Cannibal
by miss37
Summary: Mac and the team get involved in a strange case that turns into more than just a murder. They discover a mysterious woman who dresses in costumes and terrorizes criminals. Mac falls prey to her and he's trapped with an ex-con. Can they escape or will they become her next "meal"?
1. Chapter 1

It was dark…very dark. During the day when there was snow on the ground and on these trees, it was one of the most beautiful places in Central Park, but tonight, it was anything but beautiful. Mac Taylor was walking through the almost tunnel of trees that had graced so many pictures, after a suspect in a rape case. The ground was covered with dried leaves. He had his weapon at the ready as he walked through there, but as he walked along, suddenly, he ran into a spider web hanging from the trees…and he realized there was a spider at the end of it! He slapped the spider off his hand and then he shined his light up into those trees. He immediately wished he had not done that…his breath caught in his throat as he saw that there were spiders hanging everywhere in those trees…and EVERYWHERE was not an exaggeration.

Mac looked down at his feet and then he started hurrying to get out of there. As he got to the end of that tunnel, he almost ran right into Danny Messer. Mac almost lost his composure then. "Danny, what are you doing?" he asked.

Danny could see Mac was a little rattled. "I didn't know you were here," he said.

Mac blew out a breath and shined his light on his legs and feet. He wanted to get out of here and make sure there were no spiders on him. "I guess you didn't find him," he said.

"No," Danny replied. "Are you alright?"

Mac looked at him. "Yes, but I didn't find him either." He could not shake the feeling that something was crawling all over him.

"Well, I guess we can go back this way," Danny said referring to the tunnel Mac had just come through.

"No!" Mac said. "I mean, we'll go back the way you came."

"Why?"

"Let's just go this way."

Mac looked back at that tunnel as they started away and almost shivered. He could not stand the thought of something crawling on him. While he was behind Danny, he wiped at his arms and pants trying to make sure there were no spiders crawling on him. He could just see them crawling up under his pant leg and crawling…he shook his head at himself. _Suck it up, Marine, _he thought to himself.

They continued on through the trees and kept aware of their surroundings but there was no sign of the suspect. "He had to come through here," Danny whispered.

"I agree," Mac said. "But where did he go?"

"Beats me."

Just then they heard what sounded like the crack of a whip and someone screamed. Mac and Danny looked at each other and headed toward the sound. They soon found the suspect they had been chasing lying on the ground with duct tape over his mouth and around his arms and legs, and his pants had been removed as well as his shoes and underwear. Mac was confused now but he thought someone must have been waiting for the guy. They could see the guy's face was scratched up.

Danny squatted beside the guy and jerked the tape off his mouth. "Ow!" the man yelled.

"I guess someone didn't want you to get away," Danny said.

"She's crazy! Get me out of here!"

"She?" Mac asked.

"Yeah, she!"

"Who? You know her? Maybe we should send her roses."

"Whatever! Just get me out of here! I did it! I confess!"

Mac looked at Danny. "Well, someone got his attention," he said.

"Yeah, I can't wait to hear this story," Danny said.

They got the man up and cut the tape off his feet so he could walk. "Hey aren't you going to find my pants?" the man said.

Mac looked around them. "I don't see them," he said. "We just take people in the way we found them."

Danny snickered. "I think a little humiliation will do you good. Probably get you used to it."

They took the guy back to the hotel they had found him in. Don Flack was still there. He was surprised to see the guy with no pants on. "Do I even want to know?" he asked.

"We found him that way," Danny said.

Don noticed the duct tape around the guy's arms and chest. "What? Did you find a duct tape factory out there?"

"No, someone else caught him for us. I rescued Mac from all those spiders out there in the tunnel."

Mac looked at him. "What?" he asked.

"Hey, I know there's a ton of spiders in there."

Don tried not to laugh. "He found out, huh?"

"Yeah, he kept swiping at his arms and legs."

"Alright, very funny," Mac said. "Get this guy in there."

"Hey, he's not sitting on my seat naked," Don said.

"You've had naked people in there before."

"Come on, Mac."

"Get him back to the precinct and book him."

Don took the guy by the arm and shoved him toward the car. "You're under arrest," he began.

Mac looked at Danny. "You just thought that was hilarious, didn't you?" Mac asked.

"Yeah," Danny replied. "That place out there is full of spiders this time of year. Don't you think it's ironic that it's right here at Halloween?"

"Are you telling me that those spiders know it's Halloween?"

"Come on, are you afraid of spiders?"

"I don't want them crawling on me," Mac admitted. "Let's get this hotel room processed and get out of here."

They went into the hotel room to look over everything. Mac was glad to be in some light. He looked at his pants legs and everything to make sure there were no spiders crawling on him. He could not help but wonder who had captured that suspect but they would have to figure that out later.

Danny walked over to Mac. "I don't see any spiders on you," he said.

"Will you knock it off?"

Danny could not help but laugh. He had never seen Mac as rattled as he was after he went through that tunnel. He could not believe Mac did not know about the spider population out there but he supposed one could not know everything especially when they worked all the time.

They searched the hotel room and did not find much and then went back to the lab. Mac went to his office to write his report about what had happened so far. He did not understand everything that had happened but he would try and find out more when he got to interrogation. He wanted to know who had stripped the guy and taped him. They did not kill him at least…and he had said it was a woman.

Mac remembered those spiders. He would write his report later. He went to the locker room and took off his clothes. He could not stand the thought that a spider could be in his clothes. He put on his jeans that were in the locker and a t-shirt and a sweater. He did not want to think of spiders being on him. He put on his sneakers that were in there and then went back in his office. He could write his report now without worrying about a spider. He just hoped none of them bit him.

Mac wrote out his report and then leaned back in his chair for a moment. It was after Midnight, but he still had more work to do. Danny came to the office door. "You ready to go to interrogation?" he asked.

"Just about," Mac said.

"You changed clothes, huh? Did you see any spiders?"

Mac looked at him. "Will you let that go?"

Danny smiled. "I can't. The head of the crime lab is afraid of an itty-bitty spider."

Mac scowled. "Well, then I guess you're not afraid of that one crawling up your pant leg."

Danny jumped and looked down. "What?"

Mac smiled and walked over there. "I guess we all get a little nervous around spiders," he said.

Danny shook his head and followed Mac. "That was not fair," Danny said.

"Yes it was. You keep teasing me about those spiders. They were hanging from every tree limb and the limbs were covered with webs. I bet there were a thousand up there."

"I've seen them before. Lindsay almost panicked the first time we saw them…and she's a country girl."

Mac almost shivered at the thought. "Let's talk about something else, like how that guy got tied up and stripped," he said.

"Right. I want to hear that myself."

They went down to the interrogation room where Don had the suspect already. Don was standing outside the room. "You're not going to believe this one," Don said with his sarcastic grin. "I'm just going to let him tell you so I can watch and see the look on your faces."

Mac scowled at him. "Why don't you just tell us so we won't be too shocked?" he asked.

"Nah."

Mac shook his head and he and Danny went on into the interrogation room. "James Bray," Mac said and dropped the file on the table. He sat down in the chair across from Bray and Danny sat in the other one. "So, what have you got to say for yourself?"

Bray stared at Mac. "I did it," he said. "Go ahead and put me in prison."

"Hold it. Why don't you go into a little more details?"

"Details about what?"

"What are you confessing to?" Danny asked. "Just being stupid, indecent exposure or rape?"

"I raped Jennifer," Bray said. "She was my ex-girlfriend. I got mad and I just lost it."

"And you raped her?" Mac asked. "You know if that girl doesn't pull through, you're going to be facing murder charges."

"Put me in jail."

"Don't worry, we are. Why don't you tell us how you got taped up and undressed?"

Bray stared at them. "You're going to think I'm crazy like that other detective. He didn't even believe me."

"Why don't you just try me?"

Bray looked down at the table and then looked at Mac. "Catwoman did it," he said.

Mac and Danny just sat there staring at the man a moment. Danny could imagine Don standing outside that window laughing. Mac leaned on the table. "Catwoman?" he asked. "Do you expect us to believe that?"

"It's true. She literally ripped my clothes and shoes off and told me that if I didn't confess and serve my time, she would find me and…and…"

"And what?" Mac asked.

"And castrate me."

Danny looked at Mac. "Well, I have heard it all now," Danny said. "I have thought I heard it all before but now, I think this is the end."

"And I suppose Batman was somewhere near there too, right?" Mac asked.

"I don't care whether you believe it or not," Bray said. "There was a woman there dressed in a Catwoman outfit. She threw a cat on me. You see these scratches? You think I did that to myself? She stripped me and she did that to me."

Mac stared at the man a moment. Bray seemed to be genuinely nervous, but Mac found it hard to believe that Catwoman did all this…not only was she unreal, she was a villain." He stood up. "Okay, you can keep that story but we're booking you on rape. They'll escort you to your cell."

Mac and Danny left the interrogation room and Don met them outside the room. "Yeah, you grinning snake," Danny said. "Some of the stories we hear in here."

"I've heard people blame things on everything," Don said. "But I have never heard one blame Catwoman."

"Well, there's one thing about it," Mac said. "He didn't tape his own self up like that."

"Are you saying you believe that story?" Danny asked.

"Maybe there was a woman out there dressed like Catwoman who captured him."

Don and Danny watched Mac walk away toward the elevator. Danny looked at Don. "I think he's been doing this job too long," he said.

"You better not tell him that," Don replied.

Danny got into the elevator with Mac. "You really think there's someone out there dressed like Catwoman?" Danny asked.

"I don't know," Mac said. "I haven't seen her."

"That's an incredible story."

"Yeah, but we've had some incredible stories before."

They went back up to the lab. Mac looked at his watch as he was walking to his office. He wanted to get home and see Christine for a while before morning came again. He yawned as he put his folders away. He wrote a little more on his report, wondering if he should leave out that part about Catwoman, but he supposed he could not do that. He typed it all up and then headed out for home. He and Christine never got much time together but they would have some this morning.

Mac went down to the garage where his Avalanche was parked. As he was about to get in the truck, he heard the crack of a whip. He whirled around with his hand on his weapon. "Do you really think I would let you shoot me?" the woman asked.

Mac could not see her very well as she was standing in the shadows, but he could see that she had on something that was skin tight. "Who are you?" he asked.

"I'm Catwoman," she whispered.

Mac frowned. "Really? Are you the one who humiliated our suspect?"

"Well, you weren't having much luck catching him."

"We would have gotten him eventually."

"I thought he should be humiliated after what he did to that woman. He deserved to go to prison and more."

"That's not for you to decide. He will be going to prison for a long time."

"Only because I caught him for you."

"We would have gotten him."

"You were too busy playing with the spiders."

"Why don't you come out in the light?"

"Why should I? So you can tell everyone that you saw the crazy woman who is going around impersonating Catwoman?"

"Isn't that what you're doing?"

"No. I'm the real thing, Detective Taylor."

Mac frowned. "How do you know me?"

"Everybody knows you. Criminals loathe you. You're probably the most hated detective in this whole city."

"Well, I must be doing some good then."

"You are, but I think you need a little help."

"Not from you. You should leave the crime fighting to us."

The woman laughed. "You men are all the same," she said. "We'll meet again, Detective."

Mac watched as she made her way out of his sight and he did not even see which way she went. He shook his head and blew out a breath as he got into the Avalanche. "As though we don't have enough to contend with," he said. "Now, we have Catwoman running around the city. What else is going to happen?"

Mac drove home wondering what that woman's purpose was for all this. He could not believe that someone dressed as a villain was up to all good but right now, he was going home to his wife.


	2. Chapter 2

The next morning, Mac was back at the lab at his usual time: 8:00. He walked in and found that Adam was already there. "Mac, did you hear that rumor that's been going around?" Adam asked.

"What rumor?" Mac asked.

"That there's a Catwoman out there in the city."

Mac looked at him. "Where did you hear that?"

"It's all over the police department. There have been several reports of sightings around the city."

"Adam, Catwoman is a figment of someone's imagination. She came out of a comic book, now whoever this is, is just impersonating a character from a comic book. Okay?"

Adam looked at Mac a moment. "Right," he said. "Got it."

"Good."

Mac went on to his office shaking his head. He did not know how that got out all over the place but he was going to have a stern talk with Don Flack. He was not supposed to be spreading silly rumors like that…then again, Mac knew it was more than a rumor. He had actually met the woman. He did not know why she came to see him but he would just keep that little detail to himself.

Mac sat down at his desk and began writing more on his report. He had to get the case done today and get all the reports turned in. He was glad they got that rapist off the streets but how that had happened was puzzling. He wondered what the woman's goal was…was she some sort of vigilante? She could get hurt that way…although she had been able to capture the man whom they were after. Did she intend to hunt down criminals? How did she even know they were out there hunting that guy?

Soon, Jo came in to the lab and came to Mac's office. "What is this I hear?" she asked. "Cat woman?"

Mac looked at her. "Not you too," he said.

"It's all over the news. They say this woman is going around scaring criminals."

"Scaring them?"

"Yes. I hear she even caught your suspect last night and he was so scared that he confessed."

Mac stood up. "I'm going to have a serious talk with Don," he said. "See you later."

Jo almost laughed as she watched Mac walk to the elevator. She knew Don was in for it if he was the one who let that rumor leak out. Mac got in the elevator and went down to see Don. When he walked out of the elevator there, Don was sitting at his desk. "Morning, Mac," he said. "Are you awake after that late night?"

"Barely," Mac replied. "I've been hearing a rumor that's going around the precinct. Did you happen to let it slip that there is a woman out there dressing up like Catwoman?"

"Me? I would never do that…at least I tried not to. I think that moron, Bray, told it and it just spread from there. You know I had to make out a report about that."

Mac frowned. "That's all we need is something like that going around everywhere."

"What's the harm?"

"Don, do you know what's going to happen? People are going to go out hunting this woman thinking they're going to make money."

"Well, you can't stop it. Something like that is bound to get out."

"You better not be talking about that and increasing the suspicions out there."

"Don't worry."

Mac could not believe they had all these rumors going around. He wondered who that woman was who was dressing like Catwoman and whether she had any help. He went back up to his office and sat at his desk until he got a call from Don. "Taylor," he answered.

"Mac, I think we've got a new case," Don said. "At first they thought it was a case of indecent exposure but it's more than that."

"I'll be there," Mac replied. He got his jacket and went to get Danny. "Come on, we have a murder."

Mac and Danny went to the elevator and went down to the Avalanche. "Did Don give any details?" Danny asked.

"No, he just said they first thought it was indecent exposure when the body was first found but they discovered it was more than that."

"Indecent exposure? Like our suspect last night?"

"Could be."

Mac drove to the address Don had told him. Don was waiting for them when they walked over to the crime scene which was already corded off, and at the harbor. "So, what have we got?" Mac asked.

"It's pretty gruesome," Don replied. He pointed to two fishermen who were standing beside the pier. "Those guys came down here to fish and found the body. They didn't see anyone and they were here pretty early."

Mac and Danny followed Don over to the pier where they could see a body taped to one of the posts on the pier and he was facing out across the harbor. Mac walked over to the body to get a look and he was surprised to see that the man's private part had been cut off. Danny walked up next. "Ouch," he said.

Mac thought Don and Danny could make an understatement about anything. "Looks like our Catwoman might have made good on her promises," Mac said.

"Or somebody wants it to look like she did," Danny replied.

"Have any details about last night been released? Like the duct tape and the threat?"

"I don't think so," Don said. "I would think everyone is just now getting the morning paper. Who could know about it?"

"That's a question we will have to ponder. Catwoman will be our first suspect though."

"Any ID?" Danny asked.

"No. There was nothing on the guy," Don answered. "We didn't find any clothes or anything."

"So, he's John Doe," Mac said as he was taking pictures and studying something on the victim's forehead. "Give me those tweezers."

Danny gave him the tweezers. Mac pulled something from the victim's forehead. "Get this body down from here," he said.

They waited while the coroners got the body down and laid it on the pier. Danny took more pictures now that he had a full view of the body. Mac was studying what he had pulled from the guy's forehead. Don came over there and looked at it.

"What is that?" Don asked.

Mac looked at Don with a puzzled look on his face. "It looks like a cat claw," Mac said. "But we'll have to let Lindsay analyze it and make sure."

When Danny was finished with the pictures, they began their examination of the body. "Looks like he was shot in the knee," Danny pointed out.

Mac looked at the wound on the back of the victim's knee. "To keep him from running," he said.

"Wow. That had to hurt."

"I would agree. And then when he was incapacitated, they mutilated him and taped him up there."

Danny shined his light on the victim's face. "He's pretty scratched up," he said. "Even his eyes have been scratched."

Mac looked at the face too. "Like cat scratches," he said thoughtfully.

"You know something?"

"Well, I pulled what looked like a cat claw out of his forehead." Mac looked at Danny. "He was attacked by a cat?"

Danny considered that. "Maybe someone threw a cat on him and then took advantage of him."

Mac raised his eyebrows. "Sounds familiar," he said.

"You think our Catwoman did this? She didn't kill that other guy."

"We have to find out the identity of this victim."

They did not find anything else on or around the body so they turned it over to the ME. Mac looked down from the pier to see if there was any blood down there. "There are a few drops of blood down there," he said to Danny. "I don't think he was murdered here."

"I agree," Danny said.

They looked around but did not see any trail of blood. They would have to wait and see what Sid found. Mac went over to Don. "I want the identity of that victim as soon as it comes through," Mac said.

"I'll get it," Don replied.

Mac went to the Avalanche along with Danny. They headed back to the lab. "This is a weird case, isn't it?" Danny asked. "I wonder if it was a black cat?"

"What does that matter?" Mac asked.

"Well, it 'is' close to Halloween."

"Oh. Well, the Catwoman was wearing black so..." Mac stopped as he realized he was about to reveal that he had actually seen her.

Danny looked at Mac. "How do you know? We didn't see her."

"He said she was dressed like Catwoman. What other color would she wear?"

"Right. Black leather. I wonder if she thinks she's Catwoman. Does she have nine lives?"

"Danny, let's not go there."

"You think she's killing criminals?"

"Could be."

"Catwoman 'is' an outlaw."

"But this is not the real Catwoman. There is no such person."

"Right, but if someone actually dresses like this character and starts doing what she did, wouldn't that make them Catwoman?"

Mac rolled his eyes. "And who's next? The Penguin?"

"I guess you and I will have to be the Dynamic Duo?"

"Danny."

Danny had to laugh. "Come on, Mac, didn't you ever play Batman when you were a kid?" he asked.

"I'm not a kid."

"Okay, okay. We'll be Taylor and Messer…Detectives."

"I thought that's who we are."

"Yeah, but…never mind. You would be more like that guy on Dragnet…The city: New York; my partner: Messer; My name is Taylor…I carry a badge."

Mac looked at Danny. "Are you alright today?" he asked.

"Well I'm just trying to wrap my brain around some woman running around out there dressed like Catwoman and nobody has noticed."

"Who says they haven't? People don't tell stuff like that except…" Mac scowled.

"What?"

"Maybe we should check nine-one-one calls," Mac said. "Maybe someone called about that and it was just disregarded as a hoax."

"Good point. That's probably right."

They arrived back at the lab and went up to the 35th floor. Mac registered the evidence at the lab and then went to his office. He began his report as he thought about the situation. They had to figure out who that woman was and what she intended to do. He thought the identity of that victim would shed some light on that.

Just as Mac was finishing his report, Don came from the elevator. He went straight to Mac's office. "Hey, Mac," he said and gave Mac a printout. "Our victim was a convicted rapist but he had gotten out after ten years."

Mac stared at the printout. "Barry Falworth. He would have had ten years probation," he said.

"Right. Since our guy last night said that the Catwoman threatened to do the same thing to him…"

"Yeah, that's what it looks like and no one has had time to be a copycat."

"Copycat…that's funny."

"I've got Adam scanning nine-one-one calls to see if anyone has called in about seeing Catwoman."

"Mac how do we know that guy was even telling the truth?"

"Well, something spooked him enough to make him confess, and he didn't tape himself."

"True."

Mac stood up and walked around the desk. "I'm going to the morgue," he said. "You going with me?"

"Nah. I have to get my report finished. I just rushed that up here."

"Oh, okay."

Mac headed for the elevator along with Don. "Mac!" Jo called.

Mac looked around and saw her coming that way. "I'm going with you," Jo said.

"I'm going to the morgue," Mac said.

"I know. I want to know how the victim died."

"Why?"

"Because I'm helping with this case. Lindsay is working on that apparent cat claw now. I think it really is a cat claw."

"Me too."

"Do you think we really have a Catwoman out there?"

Mac looked at Jo. "Are you serious?" he asked.

"Yes, I'm serious. There's someone out there who is taking Halloween to the extreme."

They went down to the morgue and Sid was leaning over the body with a magnifying glass. Mac walked over to him and looked through the magnifying glass. "Yep, that's blood," Mac said.

Sid was startled for a moment. "Oh, I wish you wouldn't do that," he said.

Mac smiled. "What have you found, Sid?"

"Well, I was studying these scratches on the victim's face. It looks like cat scratches, even in the eyes. The sclera is scratched in both eyes and the lense in the left eye. The victim was also shot in the right knee." Sid gave them a dish with a bullet in it. "And of course, he was relieved of his maleness."

"So, what killed him?" Mac asked.

"Well, both the Popliteal Artery and the Popliteal Vein were transected in the knee, as well as the arteries in the penis and he bled to death."

"So he wasn't dead when his maleness was cut off?" Jo asked.

"It seems that there is more clotting around the knee wound so I would think it was done first," Sid said. "And there is even some around that wound so I would say he was alive when it was severed."

Mac looked disgusted. "Someone did this to torture this guy," he said.

"Whoever our Catwoman is may have been a victim of sexual assault," Jo pointed out.

"We've got a lot of work to do."

"I'll say. I'll analyze this bullet."

Mac looked at Sid. "Did you find anything else?" he asked.

"No. There is no sign that he fought. Nothing under the nails or anything but there had to be a lot of blood."

Mac nodded. "I agree but it wasn't at the crime scene. He was killed somewhere else."

"Maybe at his apartment," Jo said.

"If he had an apartment. There was no address on his printout. Maybe he was staying in a hotel."

"How would he do that if he didn't have a job?"

"We're going to have to talk to his parole officer."

"Right."

"Thanks, Sid," Mac said.

Mac and Jo went back to the elevator. They had a lot of work to do to solve this murder. Mac could not help but remember that woman talking to him in the garage. He wondered why she came to see him. To gloat? To make him feel inferior? He only looked for justice, not revenge. This person was taking revenge and they had to stop her…


	3. Chapter 3

Mac and Jo went back up to the lab. Jo registered the bullet as evidence. "I'm going to analyze that bullet myself," she said.

"Go ahead," Mac replied. He yawned as he walked back to his office. He had not slept much after he went home last night. He smiled as he thought of that. Christine had woken up when he got home and she was very glad he was there. He had not even made it into the bedroom. He had wondered if she was awake before he got there.

Mac sat down at his desk and thought about Christine. He had to get her some roses. He did not have time to take her out to dinner very often but he cherished every moment they had together. He loved her and wished they had more time together. They had taken two weeks for their honeymoon and he had enjoyed it and she did too.

Adam and Lindsay started toward Mac's office at about the same time and got there at about the same time too. "Mac, I've got something important," Adam declared.

"Are you saying I don't?" Lindsay asked.

"No, but I think mine is better."

"Ha!"

Mac just sat there looking at them. "I think you two need a vacation," he said. "Ladies first."

Lindsay put her hands on her hips. She thought about protesting that but she could see Mac was in no mood to argue. "The claw definitely came from a cat," she said. "There was a little blood and skin from the cat of course, and get this: it matches DNA found in the wounds of the suspect last night. It was the same cat."

Mac looked at the report and Adam folded his arms. He thought that was bigger news than what he had. Mac looked at him. "What have you got?" he asked.

Adam always thought Mac expected something big from them. "Well, I checked all the nine-one-one calls that I could find about Catwoman," he said. "There were about fifty calls about it but there was one that was very insistent. If you'll come to the computer lab, I'll let you hear it."

Mac followed him and so did Lindsay. Jo came in too. "You got something?" she asked.

"We're about to find out," Mac said.

Adam started the recording:

Operator: _Nine-one-one, what is your emergency?_

Caller: _I just saw someone climbing down my building and she was dressed like Catwoman._

Operator: _Excuse me? Can you repeat that?_

Caller: _I said, there's someone dressed like Catwoman climbing down this building."_

Operator: _Ma'am, this line is for serious calls._

Caller: _I am serious. There's someone out here climbing down the building._

Operator: _We have your address. Thanks for the report._

Mac looked at the address on the screen. "Maybe we should go and talk to this woman," he said.

"I agree," Jo said.

"I would like to know why this Catwoman was climbing down this particular building."

"Maybe she lives there?"

"Maybe."

Mac and Jo went to the Avalanche and headed for the apartment building. He had also told Don and Jamie to meet them there. He hoped the woman who made that 911 call knew something. Maybe she had seen the woman again and did not call because she thought they would not believe her.

They arrived at the apartment building and Don and Jamie were there too. "So who are we looking for?" Don asked.

"Someone who saw that Cat woman," Mac said. "We have the address from the nine-one-one call as apartment twelve-D. I want to know what she saw."

They went into the building and up to the 12th floor. They walked down to the right apartment and Don knocked. They heard someone slide the peephole cover. "N.Y.P.D.," Don said. "Open up."

The door opened and there was a red-headed woman there. "What do you want?" she asked.

"I'm Detective Don Flack, and you are?"

"Deborah."

"Deborah, did you make a nine-one-one call two nights ago?"

Deborah folded her arms. "You mean you're just now getting here? I'm sure she's gone now."

"Ma'am, I'm Detective Mac Taylor. We need to know exactly what you saw. We're conducting a murder investigation."

"Murder? What does that have to do with me?"

"We think this woman might have been involved."

"I saw her climbing down this building and I don't think she had any ropes either."

"Can you show us exactly where you saw her?" Don asked.

"Sure."

They followed the woman into the apartment and she showed them where she had seen the woman. "What apartment is above you?" Mac asked.

"Probably thirteen-D," the woman said.

"You didn't see the woman's face, did you?"

"No."

"Thank you for your help."

Mac and the others went out into the hall. "Don, you and Jamie take the fourteenth floor," Mac said. "Jo and I will take the thirteenth."

"Hey, that's fine with me," Don said. "I don't want to be on the thirteenth floor this time of year."

"Are you telling me that a detective like you is superstitious?"

"Maybe."

Jamie could not help but smile. She knew that Don just liked to pull Mac's chain. They all got into the elevator. "You know, if we're chasing Catwoman, when do you think the other villains will show up?" Don asked.

Jamie laughed to herself as Mac gave Don a tolerant look. "Let's try to be serious," Mac said. "This is a prank that has turned into murder."

"I'm just saying."

"Do you think she has any help?" Jo asked.

"I don't know," Mac said. "She may be working alone since she used so many tactics to get the victim under control. I think this is just someone out for revenge."

"People always seem to confuse revenge and justice."

Mac and Jo got off the elevator at the 13th floor. "What are we going to do?" Jo asked. "Knock on the door and say, 'Excuse me, did you climb down the building dressed like Catwoman?'"

Mac looked at her. "Maybe you should have gone with Don," he said.

"I'm just confused."

"We'll see if this person saw anything."

They arrived at the apartment and Mac knocked on the door. They waited and soon opened the door. Mac showed him his badge. "I'm Detective Mac Taylor. This is Detective Danville. Did you see anything strange two nights ago?"

"I see a lot of strange stuff," the man said. "I'm an EMT."

"Well, you didn't happen to see a woman dressed like Catwoman, did you?"

"Catwoman? No, I don't think so."

"We had a report that someone dressed like Catwoman was climbing down this building."

The man smiled. "Are you guys investigating stuff like that now?" he asked amused.

"Well, we think she was involved in a murder, and she's using that costume to hide."

"Oh. Well, I haven't seen anything, but I have heard a cat meowing before."

"Where?"

"Somewhere overhead. We're not supposed to have pets."

"Did you report it?"

"No. I've heard a lot of strange noises in this place. I think the landlord just looks the other way."

"Anything particularly strange?" Jo asked.

The man thought a moment. "Well, one night I heard some woman laughing. I mean, it didn't sound like a happy laugh. It was more like one of those evil laughs you hear in the movies."

"Did you know where it was coming from?" Mac asked.

"Up there somewhere."

"When was this?"

"About a week ago, I guess."

"Thanks."

Mac and Jo turned to go back to the elevator. "What do you think?" Jo asked.

"I don't know," Mac said. "Our Catwoman may live in this building. I don't think he would be able to hear above the next floor so, I think she must be up there."

"I agree but how do we find her?"

"Door to door?"

"Don's going to love that."

Mac and Jo got in the elevator and went up to the 14th floor. Don and Jamie were walking back toward the elevator when Mac and Jo came out. "The guy who lives there in fourteen-D says he had heard cats meowing and some woman making a lot of noise," Don said.

"What kind of noise?" Mac asked.

"Well, he said it sounded like she was having rough sex but he didn't hear anybody else."

"Maybe she was working out," Jo said. "Where was it coming from?"

"He didn't know. He says sound travels down the vents and he hears a lot of stuff he would rather not hear."

"So, it could not be on this floor."

Mac scratched his head. "We're just gonna go door to door," he said. "We still don't even know where the victim was killed or where he was staying."

"We're going door to door?" Don asked.

"Yes."

"Can I go with you?"

Jamie looked at him. "Is there some reason you don't want to go with me?" she asked.

"Well, when I go with you I have to do all the talking."

"Fine," Jo said. "The women will see if we can do better."

"You two go up to the next floor," Mac said, wondering how he lost control of this situation. "Remember, we're looking for a murderer."

"Right," Jo said.

Jamie stuck her tongue out at Don as she followed Jo to the elevator. Mac slapped Don in the back. "Let's go," he said.

They walked down to the next apartment, and Mac knocked. Don stood there with his hands folded, waiting to see who would answer the door. They heard the peephole cover. "You never know who's coming to the door and how they're dressed," Don remarked as he heard the chain slide.

"Just…" Mac did not finish that sentence as the door opened.

There was a woman there with a towel around her and her hair was wet. "Yes?" she said.

Mac and Don showed her their badges. "I'm Detective Taylor and this is Detective Flack. We're…"

"You're Detective Taylor? Wow." The woman leaned on the door facing and folded her arms. "I would have never thought such a famous detective world be at my door."

"Famous?"

"You're in the paper all the time and on TV."

"We're here investigating a murder."

"Really?"

"Yes. Have you heard or seen anything strange lately?"

"Like what?"

"Have you seen anyone climbing on this building?" Mac asked bluntly.

"I have seen a woman climbing on this building."

"Was she dressed like Catwoman?"

"No. She had blond hair. That's about all I could tell except she was muscular."

Don was amused at how the woman was checking Mac out and did not seem to know he was there. "When did you see her?" Mac asked.

"A couple of weeks ago, I guess," the woman said.

"You haven't seen her since?"

"No. I work most nights…but I'm 'always' here during the day."

Mac tried not to roll his eyes. "Thanks for your cooperation."

"You're welcome." The woman turned to go back into her apartment.

Mac and Don started on down the hall when they heard her say, "Oops."

Mac and Don looked around in time to see her bending over to pick up her towel. Mac walked on. "Wow," Don said. "I think she's too shy."

"Let's go," Mac replied. "We don't have time for this silliness."

Mac hoped they would find someone different at the next apartment and maybe they would know something important. He was more sure now that the Catwoman lived in this building. He could not believe that she would be so bold as to climb up and down this building. He thought she must have been practicing.

When Mac and Don were done with that floor, they had not discovered anything. A few people had seen the woman climbing the building but did not know who she was. "Maybe she lives further up," Don said. "Maybe we should ask the Super if he's had any complaints."

"Good idea," Mac agreed. "I want to know what Jamie and Jo found out too. You go and find them and I'll go find the Super."

Mac went to the elevator on that side of the floor and went up to the top floor. Landlords always lived on the top floor, or he figured they did. It was up away from the noise of the city. Besides that, he had seen a sign as they came in that told what apartment he lived in. Mac walked down to the apartment and knocked. He waited a moment and then knocked again. He rubbed his nose as he smelled something that seemed to irritate his nose.

Mac thought he would sneeze and he did just as he heard the peephole cover. However, that sneeze was not the end; Mac sneezed twice more before the door was open. He was surprised that a woman answered the door. He had been expecting the Super to answer.

"Excuse me," Mac said as he wiped his nose with his handkerchief.

"Bless you," the woman said.

"I'm Detective Mac Taylor. I need to see Mister Arnold French."

"He's not here right now. Maybe I can help you."

"And who are you?"

"I'm his wife, Jeanette."

"I was wondering if you folks have seen anything strange lately. Have you had any complaints?"

"You'll have to ask Arnold about that."

"You don't know what goes on?"

"Most of the time I just leave it to him."

"You mean you don't hear any complaints?"

"Nope."

Mac found that hard to believe, but he had nothing to say otherwise. He had to notice that she was blond and looked very muscular. "When will Mister French be back?" he asked.

"He will be gone a few days. He has other properties so he had to go out of town to check on them."

"Oh, and you don't know when he'll be back?"

"Not yet."

"Well, who takes care of things here until he gets back?"

"I'll take the calls but if there's a problem, Mister Herndon in twenty-B will handle it."

Mac wrote that down. "So, nobody has said anything to you about anyone climbing down the building?"

"Uhm, no."

"Okay. Thanks for your time."

Mac turned to leave and then he sneezed again. He had to get away from that apartment. He thought she must be using some sort of air freshener. He sneezed again. He would have to pay Mr. Herndon a visit but he hoped he could stop sneezing before he got there.

Mac arrived at the next apartment and knocked on the door. He hoped someone here could tell him something. The door opened and a man was there. Mac showed him his badge. "I'm Detective Taylor. Are you Mister Herndon?"

"Yes, Frank Herndon. What's this about?"

"I understand that you're taking care of things here while Mister French is out of town?"

"Yes, I do. Why? Is something wrong?"

"We have been told that a woman dressed as Catwoman was…"

"Oh, that. Climbing the building?"

"Yes."

"I've been told that. What's it to you?"

"Well, we're investigating a murder and we think this woman might be involved. Have you seen or heard anything unusual?"

"I didn't see the woman so I can't tell you anything about that."

Mac gave him his card. "If you see her, will you call me?" he asked. "We think this woman most likely lives in this building. More than one person has seen her."

"I will. Thanks."

Mac went back to the elevator and headed down. The elevator stopped on the floor that Don, Jo and Jamie were on and they were waiting for the elevator. "Going down?" Mac asked.

Jo, Don and Jamie got in the elevator. "Well, did you two find out anything?" Mac asked.

"Only that I don't want to live in this building," Jo said.

"I found out that the Super is out of town and Mister Herndon up there is watching after everything. There's also a woman living in the Super's apartment; his wife, and she has not seen the Catwoman and neither has Mister Herndon. That's on the top floor though."

"A few people have seen her but don't know who she is," Jo said. "I guess someone needs to watch this building."

"Right." Mac looked at Don. "Get someone on that, especially at night."

"I will," Don replied.


	4. Chapter 4

**Thank you all for those great reviews. :) Sometimes they just make me laugh and I am glad that you enjoy my stories so much. Hope you like this chapter. There are more to come. miss37**

Mac and the others went to the lab. Mac sneezed again as he came out of the elevator at the lab. "Bless you," Jo said.

"Thanks," Mac replied and sneezed again.

"Wow. You must be allergic to something."

"It started when I was at that landlord's apartment. Some kind of smell."

"What do you think it was?"

"I don't…" Mac sneezed again. "Excuse me."

Jo wondered what could have triggered such an allergy attack. Mac went to the bathroom. He blew his nose and washed his face, but that did not help because he sneezed again. He was trying to figure out what that smell was. He could not remember being this allergic to something but that smell was familiar. It had been very strong at that apartment. He wished someone had gone with him now. He sneezed a few more times and then thought maybe it was over for now so he went back to the lab.

"Are you okay now?" Jo asked.

"I think so," Mac said sounding hoarse and like his sinuses were stopped up. "I don't remember being allergic to anything like this."

"What did it smell like?"

Mac considered that a moment as he leaned on the table but when he looked down, he felt like he would sneeze again. "I think I'm gonna have to take something for this," he said.

"You should."

"I can't remember what that smell is but I've smelled it before."

"Maybe I should go for a visit and see if I recognize it," Jo suggested.

"No. I'm sure some allergy medicine will take care of it." Mac looked at Lindsay. "Did you find anything else?"

"Yes," Lindsay replied. "We found a substance in the scratches on the victim. It was catnip."

Mac looked at the printout. "Catnip?" He thought a moment about that smell. "That's it. That smell…it was catnip."

"Are you sure?" Jo asked.

Mac nodded. "Yes. I've never been around catnip much but now I remember when I was in high school…I had a friend who had this cat and one time he gave it catnip when I was there. I remember now…I thought I would never stop sneezing."

"You're allergic to catnip?"

"It irritates my sinuses."

"Mac, this can't be coincidence. There's Catnip in the wounds…"

"This woman is climbing that building, the landlord is supposedly out of town…"

"And that woman has Catnip in her apartment."

"Yeah."

Mac got his phone and called Don. "Flack," he answered.

"Don, I think we may have located our Cat woman," Mac said.

"Where?"

"The landlord's apartment. Twenty-A. I know what that smell was now…it was Catnip. Get a warrant."

"I'm on it."

Mac ended that call and started another one. He called dispatch and told them to get an officer in the vicinity of that apartment building to get over there and watch the building.

"What are we doing?" Danny asked as he came back into the lab. "I'm sorry I was gone so long."

"Don't worry about that," Mac said. "We think we found the Catwoman. We'll fill you in on the way."

"Mac, do you think you should go?" Jo asked. "Remember?"

"I'll wear a mask."

They went down to the Avalanche and headed for the apartment building. Mac told Danny what was going on. "Wow," Danny said. "I missed everything."

"I'm sure she must be moving by now," Mac said.

They arrived at the apartment building and Don arrived with the warrant. "Let's be careful," Mac said. "We know we're dealing with a murderer." He put his bulletproof vest on, and then a mask from the Avalanche. He hated to wear a mask but he had no choice unless he wanted to stay out of it…and he was not doing that.

They went into the apartment building and up to the right floor. Don knocked on the door. "N.Y.P.D.!" he yelled. "Open up!"

There was no answer, so Don kicked the door open. As they got inside, they could smell the Catnip odor. There were several cats in the apartment and some of them hissed at them as they went by. They did a hot search of the apartment but there was no one there.

"There's clearly no one here but the cats," Don said.

"Get animal control up here," Mac said. "We need to find this landlord. If he doesn't want animals in the building, I can't believe he would live with all these cats."

Don sneezed. "I don't know how 'anyone' could live with them," he said. "I'll get on that."

Mac put his weapon away and he and Danny stood and looked at the scene a moment. "I'll bet there's thirty or forty cats in here," Danny said.

"Well, let's see what else we can find," Mac replied.

Danny went down to get the forensics kit. Mac put on a pair of gloves. He always kept at least one pair in his pocket. He began looking around the living room. There was cat hair all over everything. Mac thought those cats had to be there a long time and there was that odor of a litter box. He had heard commercials claiming that certain cat litter kept odors down but he did not believe it. He could also smell that Catnip but he could not get anything in his nose with the mask on so he was not sneezing.

Mac moved on into the kitchen and looked around. It was very messy. There were lots of fast food, Chinese food and pizza boxes sitting around on all the surfaces and in the floor, not to mention uneaten food, which the cats were eating. Mac noticed that there were no dishes, only paper plates and such. He thought she must feed those cats in there.

Mac dreaded it but he opened the refrigerator door. He slammed it back as he almost gagged. He stood there a moment and took a deep breath, thankful that he had the mask on. Then, suddenly, Danny was behind him. "Hey, Mac!" he said.

Mac jumped in spite of himself. "Danny, what are you doing?" he asked.

"Nothin'. I have the kit."

"Well, I guess you can start with the refrigerator."

"Why? What's in it?"

"See for yourself."

Mac walked away and heard Danny's exclamation when he opened the door. Danny looked at the contents of the refrigerator which was sealed bags with cats in them, as well as some cat parts. He looked at Mac. "What is this?" he asked.

"It looks like dead cats to me," Mac said. "Check the freezer."

"Do I have to?"

"Of course."

Mac walked on into the next room with was the utility room. But he noticed there was more than a washer and dryer in there. There was also a small freezer. Mac swallowed hard as he wondered what was in there. More cats? He thought he would be sick but he was glad he did not eat any lunch now. Christine did not like it when he skipped meals but sometimes it was unavoidable.

Mac walked over to the freezer and paused a moment before he opened the lid. He gasped as he saw what was inside. There were pieces of meat in there but in the bottom…Mac closed the lid. "Danny, forget that," he said as he looked into the kitchen.

Danny stood up. "What now?" he asked.

"Come here."

Danny walked in there and Mac opened the lid. Danny looked at Mac. "You think that's the landlord?" he asked.

"I don't know," Mac said. "But I'll call the coroner."

Don was coming back just as Mac was walking into the living room. "Hey, Mac," Don said, noticing that Mac looked at little paler than normal. "Animal control is on their way."

"We need the Coroner too. There's a body in the freezer."

"I'll get 'em."

Mac got on the phone and called Jo…

"Danville," Jo answered.

"Jo, bring Sheldon and come to the crime scene," Mac said. "We have a body in the freezer."

"We're on our way."

"Bring Adam too."

"Got it."

Mac put his phone away and went into the bedroom next. There were cats in there too lying all over the bed, on the dresser, and floor. He thought that woman must have manipulated her way into this apartment and then killed the landlord. He wondered how long the man had been dead, and why did no one notice he was gone? The cats hissed at him as he walked in there. He did not think a human being had been staying in this room, but there were two other bedrooms.

Mac left that room and walked on to the next. This room had litter boxes all around the walls and no furniture. The next room had had the door closed and it was obviously where the woman had been staying. There was one black cat in there. It meowed at Mac when he walked in. It sniffed at him and stared at him with big yellow eyes.

"Hi, kitty," Mac said.

The cat meowed at him again. Mac walked over to the dresser. There was not much there, but there was a laptop on a desk in the corner. He would let Adam get that. He went into the bathroom and found that they would probably be able to get some DNA in there. There was a hairbrush on the sink that had blond hairs in it.

Mac went back to the utility room where Danny was standing with the camera around his neck. "Mac, do you think this woman has been eating cats?" Danny asked.

Mac swallowed and shook his head. "Let's try not to ask that right now," he said.

"Mac, there must be…"

"Danny, just give me the camera. Make plenty of notes." Mac took the camera and went into the living room. He took pictures through there and the three bedrooms as well.

Just as Mac was finishing his pictures, Jo walked in. "We're all here, Mac," she said.

"Good," Mac replied. He put the hairbrush into an evidence bag. "Did you see what was in the freezer and fridge?"

"I did." Jo blew out a breath as she rubbed her forehead. "I'm gonna have nightmares about this, Mac. I feel terrible when I have to leave dishes in the sink to run out to a crime scene, but this…my Lord, I don't ever want a cat. I feel dirty just being in here."

"I never was a cat person."

"We always had a cat when I was a kid. They took care of the mice around a farm, but there was one thing about it, my mom and dad did not let animals stay in the house."

"Mine either."

By the time they were done at that apartment, it was almost evening. Mac sat down at his desk and sighed. He did not think he could eat tonight either unless he took something to settle his stomach first. He took his notes out and started writing his report. According to what they had seen, it looked like she had been eating cats, but she had been eating pizza and everything too. He wondered how long she had been there and how long that man had been in the freezer.

It would be the next morning before anymore results would be ready, so when his report was done, Mac grabbed his coat and went into the lab where Sheldon was working on the evidence. "Call me if you get anything," Mac said.

"Will do," Sheldon replied.

Mac went on to the elevator. He yawned as the elevator started down. He was definitely tired after this long day. He even still had on his bulletproof vest. He smiled as he remembered Christine telling him he looked sexy in that vest. Why, he did not know. He would just let her take it off when he got home.

Mac went down to the parking garage and yawned as he was walking to his truck. He wanted to get some sleep tonight, but as he was walking toward his truck, he suddenly heard something behind him. Before he could turn around, something hard hit him in the back, knocking the breath out of him, and then twice more. Mac hit the concrete floor flat on his stomach. He thought he would not get his breath back, but he realized he had been shot.

Mac struggled to get his breath back as he looked around and saw the Cat woman coming toward him. He instinctively reached for his weapon and rolled over on his back. "Stop!" he demanded. "I'll shoot you!"

"Go ahead," the woman replied. "I've only lost one life."

Mac stared at her wondering what that meant, but she started toward him again so he shot her twice. To his surprise, she did not fall but simply stumbled.

"You wanta try again?" she asked.

"Who are you?" Mac asked as he was moving away from her. He finally got to his feet and aimed at her again. "Don't make me shoot you again!"

"You would make a tasty morsel," she whispered. "Since you took all my food, I have to get more." Then she had her own weapon.

"Drop it!"

"Why should I?"

Mac fired twice more but she moved and he missed. "How many bullets do you have in that gun?" she asked.

Mac could feel sweat running down his back and feel it on his forehead. "You're not taking me," he declared.

"Oh yes I am."

Mac fired at her again. While she was busy dodging, he ran for his truck. He jerked the door handle so the alarm started sounding. Then he whirled around but he did not see her.

"I'll be back, Detective," he heard her say.

Mac looked around him but he did not see anyone until someone came from the elevator, which happened to be Jamie Lovato. She was surprised to see Mac with his weapon drawn and his truck blowing an alarm.

"Mac!" Jamie said and reached for her own weapon.

"Did you see her?" Mac asked still out of breath.

"See who?"

"The Cat woman."

"She was here?"

"Yes! She…" Mac swallowed hard as he thought of what just happened.

Jamie did not think she had ever seen Mac so rattled. She went over to him. "Are you alright?" she asked.

Mac was not sure at the moment. He was shaking on the inside. He had never had anyone threaten to eat him before…except Christine, but she did not mean it literally, of course. He was starting to feel the pain in his back now that the adrenaline was wearing off. Even though he had on the bulletproof vest, he supposed he had deep bruises. He had seen people with broken ribs and even a ruptured spleen.

Jamie was beside him now and she could see where the bullets had hit the back of his coat and vest. Mac looked at her, looking very tired. He was not sure what to say but he unlocked the Avalanche to stop the alarm. Jamie thought he was in shock. "Are you sure you're okay?" she asked.

"Sure," Mac said. He walked over to where the Cat woman had been. He took a glove out of his pocket and picked up a bullet casing.

Jamie walked over there. "She shot you," she said. "I'm calling this in."

"Yes, she did," Mac replied. He grimaced as he stood back up.

"You sure you don't need to see a doctor?"

"I will when I get up to the lab."

"I'll go with you and make sure they know what happened down here." Jamie went with Mac up to the lab.

Sheldon was surprised to see Mac back, but he thought Mac looked pale. "What's going on?" Sheldon asked.

"I was attacked by that Cat woman in the garage," Mac said.

"Attacked? Are you alright?"

"She shot me in the back of the bulletproof vest." Mac gave him the bullet casing. "That's her ammunition casing." He turned around. "Here are the bullets."

Sheldon put the casing in an evidence envelope and labeled it. "Are you alright?" he asked.

"Sore."

"I'll take a look."

They went to Mac's office. Sheldon took pictures of Mac's back before he took the coat off. He slowly removed his coat which now had three holes in the back. Sheldon took pictures of the bullets in the back of the vest and then put the coat in an evidence bag as well. Mac thought he was getting sorer by the minute. He took off the bulletproof vest and put it in a bag too. He sat down on the couch and took off his shirt but Sheldon had to help him with the t-shirt. He could not raise his arms.

When Sheldon saw the bruises, he knew why Mac could not raise his arms. "These look deep, Mac," he said.

"They feel deep," Mac replied.

"I think it's just bruising." He felt of Mac's back. "There's a little swelling but I think it will be alright with some rest."

"I don't have time to rest."

"What did that woman say to you?" Sheldon asked.

Mac swallowed hard. He was trying to comprehend what happened but it reminded of when he was shot in the back before. "She was behind me," he said. "She shot me and…" He thought about what happened. "I don't know. I shot her and I know I hit her but it was like the bullets didn't have any affect."

Jamie and Sheldon stared at him a moment trying to comprehend what he was trying to say. "She was wearing a vest?" Sheldon asked.

"Not that I could see. Maybe…but she…" Mac did not even want to say it but he had to. "She intended to kidnap me and…eat me."

"Eat you?" Jamie and Sheldon said at the same time.

"Yes." Mac looked at them. He rubbed his face, knowing how that must sound but after all the things he had seen in that apartment, he knew that's what she meant. "She said I took all her food and she had to get more."

"Mac, that's a direct threat," Jamie said. "You have to be careful."

"I know that. I want to go home and…"

"I'll escort you. Don is down there in the garage looking around. Let's go. You can give your statement tomorrow after you've had more time to think about it."

Mac nodded. "Good," he said. "I'm tired."

When Mac got home, Christine was surprised to see that Jamie was with him. "Is something wrong?" she asked.

"I'll explain it to you," Mac said. He looked at Jamie. "Thanks."

"You're welcome," Jamie replied. "Keep your doors locked."

"We will."

Mac locked the door behind Jamie and then explained to Christine what happened. She was totally disgusted and scared by the time he got done. "What are you going to do?" she asked.

"We'll find her. In the meantime, you have to be cautious. I don't want her to catch you off guard."

"I don't want you to become her next meal either. Oh, Mac, that is just so…I don't know if I can eat now or not."

"I'm sorry but I had to tell you."

"I know. Let's just take a shower and then we can decide what to do after that."

"Good idea. I am just exhausted."

When they were in the shower, Christine could not help but notice the bruises on Mac's back. "Oh, Mac, these look bad," she said.

"They feel bad too but I'll be alright."

Christine kissed his back. "Be careful."

"You know I will."


	5. Chapter 5

The next morning, Mac dropped Christine off at the restaurant. She had argued with him about going to the lab because he could barely move his arms because of the soreness in his back. He would not give in however. He wanted to know how that evidence came out.

When Mac arrived at the parking garage, Don was waiting for him. "Morning," Don said.

"Morning," Mac replied. "What are you doing?"

"Escorting you."

"Who told you to?"

"Jo."

Mac went on to the elevator with Don right behind him. He would have a talk with Jo. They went up to the lab and Mac went in to where they were still working on evidence. "What have you found?" he asked.

"Sheldon ran the prints last night," Lindsay said. "We got the landlord's prints…and hers." She gave Mac a printout.

Mac looked at the printout. "Jeanette Winters," he read. "She was raped two years ago, almost died."

"You think that's our Cat woman?"

"Maybe. What about the DNA?"

"It came from the same person."

"Another thing," Danny said. "There were at least fifty cats in that place and the black cat had a claw missing."

"The claw found in the victim belonged to that cat," Lindsay said.

"Sid has the parts of the guy in the freezer that we found. That included his head, arms, legs and his manhood. The rest is missing."

They all looked toward the freezer where frozen evidence was kept. "We haven't even started on that yet," Danny said.

"Well, that may be where we find the rest of his body," Mac replied.

"This is not going to be fun."

"It never is. Get busy on all that while I go and see what Sid found."

"Yeah, you take the easy job."

"I'm the boss."

Mac turned and left the lab. He did not think he could do all that work anyway. Those bullets had his right between his shoulders and he could barely move his arms forward. He realized Don was following him. "Don, I don't think she can get into this lab," he said.

"I hope not," Don replied.

Mac went to Jo's office. She was sitting at her desk. "Hi, Mac, how are you this morning?" she asked.

"Sore," Mac said. "I came to tell you to call off your guard dog."

"He means me," Don said.

"Why?" Jo asked.

"Because I said so. I don't want him following me around all day," Mac said.

"I know," Jo replied with a smile.

Mac gave her a tolerant look. "What do you think is going to happen in this building?"

"We never know when you're leaving the building so it's logical to watch you."

"Jo, I doubt she's going to try that again."

"You never know. Mac, that woman is serious."

"Fine. Are you going to the morgue with me?"

"Sure."

Mac headed for the elevator along with Jo and Don. The doors opened at the morgue and Mac walked in where Sid had what they had found of the body covered with a sheet. "Morning, Sid," Mac said.

"Morning," Sid replied.

"So, have you found anything interesting about this victim?"

"Other than the fact that his torso is missing? Nothing much."

"You got an ID?"

"Yes. Since the hands were there, I got fingerprints."

Sid gave Mac a printout. "Arnold French," Sid said.

Mac nodded. "The landlord," he said. "Can you determine how long he has been dead?"

"Sorry. No. With him being frozen, it's impossible."

"Cause of death?"

"There is evidence of a blow to the head, but I don't think it killed him. Without the whole body, I can't determine C.O.D. But I do have a tissue sample for you."

"Alright. I'm pretty sure we know who killed him. See you, Sid."

Mac headed back to the elevator along with Don and Jo. "What now?" Jo asked.

"We have to wait and determine if any of that in the freezer belonged to our victim."

They went back up to the lab. Mac was miserable with that pain in his back and it even hurt when he looked down. He went to his office and sat down. That woman had hurt him so if she came after him again, he would have a hard time fighting her. He had to work that soreness out somehow. He thought maybe that injury had caused a pinched nerve. He had definitely had those before but he could usually work them out.

Mac leaned on his desk and then he saw Adam coming. He waved him on in before he knocked. "What have you got, Adam?" Mac asked.

"I found something interesting in Jeanette Winters' computer," Adam said. He gave Mac the Ipad. "She has a lot of records about convicted criminals, their sentences, which have been released and which are still in prison or jail. She seems to focus on crimes against women committed by men. She even has another list…" Adam changed the file on the screen. "I don't really know what this list is but I has little symbols beside the names of some of the criminals on the other list."

Mac looked at that list and at the symbols. "She has an eye beside some of them," he pointed out. "Maybe that means she's watching them."

Adam looked at that. "Well, what about the mouth with the tongue licking the lips, the cuffs and the knife?"

Mac considered that. He was disgusted with this case but he thought he knew what the symbols meant. "The cuffs could mean that she has them captured," he said. "The knife…" He looked at Adam. "Well, we know what she's been doing."

Adam looked disgusted. "You mean you think…"

"Yeah, I think the knife means they're dead and the mouth…"

"Okay," Adam said. "I'll, uh, just leave that to you."

Mac looked at the list and shook his head. He had to wonder how long this woman had been at this. He knew there were a lot of unsolved murders and missing persons in this city. He went into the lab where the others were working. "We have a list here," he said. "Looks like she has her victims categorized. We need to see if there are more than one person's remains here."

The others looked at the list. "Ew," Jo said. "It's not hard to figure out what the symbols mean."

"So this woman wants revenge against these guys and she knows they're out of prison so she decides to eat them?" Danny asked.

"Maybe she sees them as wolves preying on those weaker than them," Jo said. "So she's turning the hunter into the hunted."

"You may be right," Mac said. "We have to process all this to determine it all."

"There's a lot here," Lindsay pointed out.

"We need to find out if anyone on the missing person's list is on her list. I'll get Adam on that. Keep working."

Jo watched Mac leave the lab. She thought he was hurting worse than he was letting on, but that was none of her business. They would determine how many people had been stored in that freezer.

It took the rest of the day for them to extract DNA from all the body parts. They determined that there were parts from at least four people in there. Adam had compared the missing persons list with the Cat woman's list. There were ten people who appeared on both lists. Mac looked at the list and there were three with an "eye" beside them. "We need to find these people that have an eye beside their name," he said. "Get Don on this."

"Yes, Sir," Adam replied and headed back to the computer lab.

Mac went to the lab and told Jo and the others what he had found. "They may be our next three victims," he said. "We need to find them before she strikes again. I'm sure she has another place to stay."

"Oh my word," Jo said. "Now we're trying to save ex-cons from being eaten. I thought I had heard everything when I was with the FBI."

"I'm waiting for Don to get addresses on them," Mac said. "We can try to get them before she does."

Don soon had locations on the three criminals on the list Mac had. Mac divided them into teams to go to each one at the same time. Mac and Jo headed for the first, Alex Barnes. "You think she grabbed those three up?" Jo asked.

"I don't know," Mac replied. "But I hope not, and maybe we can catch her in the act."

"That would be too much luck, wouldn't it?"

"I need some luck."

Mac and Jo arrived at the apartment building that Alex Barnes lived in. It was an old apartment building and when they got inside, there was trash scattered on the stairway as they went up to the second floor.

When they came from the stairway, the Catwoman was in the hallway. Mac and Jo held up their weapons and Mac yelled, "Freeze!"

"Oh, you like frozen stuff, don't you, Detective Taylor?" Catwoman asked. "It's so yummy!"

"Put your hands on your head and turn around."

Suddenly, with lightning speed, the woman snapped her whip twice. Mac grabbed his right hand as blood was streaming from his thumb and the back of his hand. He heard Jo gasp as he heard their weapons hit the floor. Then suddenly, the whip wrapped around his leg. Mac realized what was happening a split second before Catwoman jerked the whip and he hit the floor.

Jo saw what was happening and tried to get her weapon but it was whipped away from her. Mac was reaching for his weapon too but he did not succeed. She whipped his arm again and then kicked the weapon all the way to the stairway.

Mac looked up at her as she drew her own weapon. "You won't get away with this," he said.

Catwoman suddenly cracked her whip again and wrapped it around Mac's neck. He grabbed the whip and gagged as it squeezed his neck enough to be uncomfortable. Jo saw what was happening and started toward the woman but Catwoman still had her gun in her hand. To Mac's horror, she fired and Jo's head jerked backward, and she fell backward to the floor.

"JO!" Mac yelled and tried to move toward her but the Cat woman tightened the whip on his neck.

"You're mine now," she said.

Mac was starting to see gray spots before his eyes. He could not call for help even if he could get his mic on his shoulder. However, the Cat woman was relieving him of anything that could help him while he chocked but when she had her mind on that, he suddenly kicked her in the back of her legs and knocked her down.

Mac got the whip from around his neck and gasped for breath. He did not have much time to get his breath because she was back on her feet. Mac grabbed the whip and threw it away from them so she could not use it, and he had never used a whip. He moved back from her to try and get to his feet but she was coming at him.

Mac stopped and hooked his foot around her leg and jerked her leg out from under her. She fell flat on her butt and Mac lunged for her. She had her gun again and he grabbed her arms. She was on her back and he was trying to wrestle the gun away from her. "Ooooh, I didn't know you'd like it rough, Detective Taylor," she whispered.

That just made Mac angrier. "Give it up!" he demanded through gritted teeth.

"No way!"

They wrestled over the gun and the woman got one of her hands away from Mac. He saw a split second before she plunged her claws into his right shoulder. He grabbed her hand but she tensed her hand more to get the claws in further. Mac gritted his teeth against that pain and tried to get the gun from her but she had incredibly strong hands.

Suddenly, Cat woman jerked the claws out of Mac's shoulder. He grunted with that pain and then realized she was about to scratch his face. He shifted his weight and rolled off of her right over the claw hand. That was all she needed to get her legs free and she brought her knee up into his groin so hard he thought he saw stars for a moment.

That was all the Catwoman needed. She got the gun from him with that distraction, but then he slapped her with the back of his hand. That did not do much but knock her backward since she had on that Catwoman mask. Mac hated the thought of hitting a woman but he had no choice in this matter.

Mac got to his feet and the Catwoman was on her feet too and she aimed the gun at his face and pulled the hammer back. "You're no different than those creeps I killed," she said as she wiped blood off her nose and lips.

"You're not giving me any choice," Mac said.

"Everybody has a choice!"

Before Mac knew what was happening, she lowered the gun and he felt pain explode in his knee. He cried out with pain as he had not even recovered from the other pain she had caused him. He fell to the floor and grabbed his right knee. Then, she squatted beside him and aimed the gun at his head. "I told you that you would be mine," she said. Then she hit him in the head with the gun.

Mac lay there on the floor, not completely unconscious yet but he could not fight the darkness that was trying to overtake him. He wondered if she would fry him, boil him or bake him…


	6. Chapter 6

As Mac was starting to wake up, he heard someone saying, "Hey! Hey!"

Mac was trying to get past the pain he was feeling now. His head was hurting, his shoulder was hurting and stinging, his groin area was worse than hurting and so was his knee. He was trying to wake up but he felt like the darkness was pressing down on him.

"Hey!" that voice said again. "Hey!"

Mac moved his head slightly, as he tried to wake up .He knew there was someone else there but he did not know who it was nor where he was either. He thought about how he got there and then he remembered Jo. His eyes popped open. "Jo?" He sat up and realized he was cuffed to the cot he was lying on. "Jo?!" He looked around the room and grimaced at the pain in his body.

"Hey, I'm over here!" someone said.

Mac looked across the room and had to wait a moment for his vision to clear. He realized there was a man there and he was taped to a chair. "Who are you?" Mac asked.

"Alex Barnes! Aren't you a cop?"

Mac put his hand to his head. "I'm Detective Taylor," he said. Then he looked at the man again. "Alex Barnes?"

"Yeah! That crazy woman brought us here!"

Mac looked at his right knee and realized the bullet had gone in right above the kneecap. His pant leg had been cut off above the knee and his knee was wrapped. He rubbed his forehead. "I don't remember," he said.

"You were unconscious the whole time. We have to get out of here. Do you know what she intends to do?"

"Unfortunately, I do."

"Come on, we have to figure out how to get out of here."

Mac looked at him. "Just calm down for one thing," he said.

"Calm down? Are you kidding? She intends to eat me! This is not a time to calm down, it's a time to panic!"

Mac looked at the cuffs holding him to the cot. "Can you move the chair?" he asked.

Barnes looked down and tried to move the chair but it did not move much. "Keep trying," Mac said.

Barnes tried again. "This is going to take too long!" he exclaimed.

Mac could hear the fear in the man's voice. "Keep trying," he said. "I can't get over there to you. You have to try to get to me."

Barnes started inching his way toward Mac. "I guess you think I deserve this, don't you?" he asked.

"Deserve what?"

"To die."

"I'm not your judge. You already served your time. It's nothing to me."

"I wish I had not done what I did, but I did and I'll just have to live with it."

"We all have something we regret."

Just then, they heard someone unlocking the door. Barnes looked at the door and then at Mac. Mac could see the man's fear. He pulled at the cuffs but he could not get loose to help the guy. The cat woman came in. "Well, have you two been chatting?" she asked.

"Let him go!" Mac demanded.

"Don't worry, he won't be tied up much longer, and I'll let you watch."

"Watch what?"

"The carving."

Mac stared at her a moment. "You can't do this!" he said.

"I can do anything I want. You better lie down and get some rest. You must have fever."

Mac frowned. "They're going to be hunting me!" he said.

"Oh I know, my dear. That's why you're going to stay alive. If they try anything, they can watch you die. I think I'm going to keep you for myself. I like it rough."

Mac glared at her and then watched as she moved Barnes' chair back over to the wall and cuffed the chair to a bar. "Now," she said and patted his face. "I'll bring your food soon. I wouldn't want you to lose any weight."

"Let me go!" Barnes demanded. "I've never done anything to you!"

"See you later."

The cat woman left the room. Barnes looked at Mac. "Get me out of here!" he said.

Mac looked at him. "How do you think I can do that?" he asked.

"I don't know. Don't you have some sort of way to communicate or something?"

"Well, she relieved me of all that."

Barnes frowned and dropped his head. "I guess I should have known that." He looked at Mac. "What do you suppose it's like to be filleted and fried?"

Mac swallowed hard. "Don't give up yet."

"Why not?"

"My people are going to be looking for us."

"No. They'll be looking for 'you', not me."

"But you're in the same place."

"Well, I'm sure I'll be a steak before they find me."

Mac did not know what to say or do. He looked at the cot he was sitting on but he did not see anything he could use to get loose. He wondered if he could even get up with his knee like it was. He wondered if she had dug that bullet out herself or if she just wrapped it with the bullet in it. He laid down on the cot and grimaced at the pain all over him. He was exhausted and thought he might pass out again.

"Oh, sure, now you're gonna go to sleep," Barnes said.

"I'm thinking," Mac replied but he could not deny that he was sleepy.

"Do you think she'll put me to sleep before she starts carving?"

Mac scowled and looked at Alex Barnes. He hated to think of that but with the situation they were in, it was a possibility. "I'm sure she would," he said.

"Well, if ii die and you get out of here, will you tell my mom that I'm sorry for making her ashamed of me?"

Mac sighed. He wished he knew how to get out of there. "Don't give up yet," he said.

"Can't you just promise me in case I become an entrée?"

"Sure. I'll tell her."

"Thanks. Her name is Kathy Barnes. She lives in Vermont."

Mac nodded. "Okay." He jerked at the cuffs but he knew those cuffs would not turn loose.

"I made a mess of my life."

"You're still young, you could…" Mac frowned.

"Yeah, my life is about over."

Mac sat back up. "Have you worked on that tape?" he asked.

"Ever since I woke up here."

Mac felt helpless and he felt bad that he could not help this man, even if he was a criminal. He did not deserve to be killed and eaten. "How did you end up committing this crime you were in for? You were robbing this woman's apartment?"

"Yeah. She wasn't supposed to come home for an hour. I had watched her every day."

Mac shook his head. "Why do you think that makes it better? You broke into her apartment to steal things that didn't belong to you, and when she came home, you knocked her out. You're lucky you didn't kill her."

"I didn't want to kill her."

"That doesn't make it okay," Mac said. "I've heard so many criminals try to make themselves look better by saying things like that. It doesn't make it better."

"You're right. I don't even know why I did it."

"In this big city, there must be something somewhere for you to do."

"That's easy for you to say. You're a detective."

"Do you think I was born one? I worked to get where I am. You have to…" Mac did not finish that sentence. He supposed it did not matter now if the man was going to die."

"Yeah, it doesn't matter now, does it?"

Mac looked around the room. He found it hard to think and he felt light-headed. He wondered how much blood he had lost from that gunshot wound. He could not stay awake any longer…

Don and the others had found Jo and they had learned of the fight Mac had with that cat woman from people who lived in that apartment building. Jo was in the hospital. The bullet had hit the left side of her head and had made her a new part in her hair. She was unconscious and did not know anything that happened after she was shot.

"We have to find this woman!" Danny declared. "Everybody in this city needs to be looking for her. Check all leads that come in." He looked at Don. "We know what she's capable of."

Don nodded. They all hoped that they did not find a freezer somewhere with parts of Mac in it. "I'm on it," Don said. "I'm gonna have every officer on this. We're dealing with a psychopath here."

Everyone scattered and got to work. They knew there was not much time if that woman intended to eat Mac. Lindsay leaned on the lab table. "I can't believe this," she said.

"I don't want to think about it too much or I may not eat for the rest of my life," Danny said.

"How can someone do this?"

"I don't know. They've gone off the deep end, crossed the line, lost it…I don't know."

"Danny, if we find Mac…like that, I cannot do the DNA tests."

Danny looked at her. "Me neither," he said.

Lindsay took off her lab coat. "I have to take a break," she said and headed for the bathroom.

Danny hoped they could figure out where that woman was. He did not want to think of Mac being murdered but they had to face the possibility. He just hoped they could find him before she filleted him. They knew her name anyway and they had an APB out on her. He hoped she did not know that they knew who she was.

Christine could not believe what she was hearing. Mac had been taken by a maniac who had been keeping human body parts in her freezer. She stood in shock for a few minutes in the middle of the bedroom. She and Mac had only been married a month. Would they find him? Would that woman kill him? Christine thought she would faint. She lay down on the bed. "Oh, Mac," she cried and sobbed. How would they find him?

During the night, Mac thought it was awful quiet in that place. He thought she must have left. He hoped she was not capturing someone else. He felt like he could think a little better now, but he was terribly sore. He was also hungry. She had brought them some food but he had been unable to eat it…afraid that it might have human flesh in it. Mac closed his eyes against the sick feeling that came over him from that thought and tried to keep his stomach from heaving. He looked around him again but he did not see anything that he could use to get of those cuffs. He looked at Alex Barnes whose head was slumped in sleep.

Mac hated it because he could not get loose and help this man. He had not doubt that cat woman intended to kill him. Mac wondered if she intended to kill him too. She had said he was her ticket out but she was wrong about that. They would not allow her to escape.

Don walked into the lab. "I have a lead," he said.

"Where?" Danny asked.

"A woman named Elaine Marsh called and said that she works with Jeanette Winters. Jeanette actually showed up for work tonight. Can you believe that?"

"I guess she didn't know we knew her name or that there is an APB out on her."

"Looks like she would be keeping track of the news, but anyway, she was gone before we got there. She probably won't be back."

"Just keep the APB out and her picture everywhere."

"Already done."

Don just stood there a moment. "Danny," he said.

"What?" Danny asked.

"What if we don't find him in time?"

Danny stopped what he was doing and sighed. "I don't want to think about that," he said.

"It's possible, you know."

"Yes I know."

Just then, Adam came barging in. "We just got a report of a sighting," he said. "Someone saw a cat woman climbing on an apartment building…the same one that Robert Parson lives in."

"And who is that?"

"Well…I…I knew that she's always looking for criminals and I got a list of the people who live there and he was released from prison. He was in for assault against his girlfriend."

Danny took off his lab coat and turned what he was doing over to Adam. "Text us that address!" he said as he and Don were running out the door.

Danny jumped in the Avalanche and had the siren blasting as he was racing toward the address right behind Don. He hoped they could capture that woman and get her to tell where Mac was. When they got to the building, there were already four police cars there. Don and Danny got out and got their bullet proof vests on.

"You know, this didn't do Jo any good," Don said.

"Yeah I know," Danny replied. "Maybe since we have so many with us, it will turn out different."

Don and Danny went into the building along with six other officers. They went up to the third floor where the apparent victim lived. As they were coming out of the elevator, Don got a message that there was something going on up on the roof.

"Let's get up there!" Danny said.

They headed back to the elevator and went up to the roof. Don and Danny came out of the elevator with their weapons ready. "Jeanette Winters!" Don yelled. "N.Y.P.D.! Come out with your hands up!"

"Why?" Jeanette asked, but they could not see her. "Do you think you're going to arrest me?"

Don and Danny moved further to the left looking for her, and finally saw her at the edge of the roof…or so they thought, but they found that she was standing on the edge of the roof and had Robert Parson up there with her and he was taped up from the mouth down to his waist. "Get down from there!" Don said.

"You just don't get it, do you?" Jeanette asked.

"Doing this won't help anything!" Danny said. "Tell us where Mac Taylor is!"

Jeanette laughed. "I wouldn't tell you where he is…to save his life."

Suddenly, the cat woman went over the side of the building along with her victim. Don and Danny ran over to the edge of the roof and got there just in time to see Robert Parson hit the pavement below, but there was no sign of that cat woman. Don got on his radio and started yelling commands for everyone to start looking for her. He and Danny rand for the stairwell to go down floor by floor and they had other officers with them as well. "I can't believe she got away like that!" Don said.

"Let's just concentrate on finding her!" Danny replied.

"She could be anywhere!"

"Get more officers here. We can't let her escape!"

Don called that in to get more officers on the scene and going up and down the streets around there. They just hoped they could get her and make her tell where Mac was. Danny was sure that woman would not be one to give up easily but right now, they had to find her. "We need to check the elevator shafts too!" he said.

"Right. I'll do that while you keep going with this!" Don said.

When they got to the next floor, they went down the hall to see if the woman was there, but they did not see her in the hallway. Don went on toward the elevator shaft while Danny and the others went back to the stairwell. Don hoped he could get that woman down if he met her again. He could not help but remember that she had taken down Jo and Mac both which was not something that he would see as easy. He thought she must have a lot of strength to fight Mac like that. They did not know exactly what went on in that hallway but they had found blood drops that belonged to Mac. Someone had seen part of the fight but they did not see the end of it.

Don got over to the elevator shaft and pushed the doors open. The elevator was above him so he looked down into the elevator shaft and shined his light down there. He did not see anything at first but then he saw her sitting on the side of the shaft as though it was nothing. "Freeze!" Don yelled.

"Don't you get tired of yelling that?" the woman asked. "I know you don't want to kill me, because you want me to tell you where your beloved Detective Taylor is."

Don got his radio to tell Danny and the others where she was. He could see the floor numbers on the sides and she was sitting right under the seven. "Catch me if you can," Cat woman said and went through the door of the elevator.

Don could not believe it, but he pressed the button for the elevator as he told the others where she had gone. "I'm getting in the elevator to go after her!" he said.

Danny was running down the stairs. He and the others were down to the ninth floor but he knew they could not get there in time to stop her on the seventh floor. It was taking too long. Don got in the elevator and went down to the 7th floor. He had his weapon ready as the doors opened but he did not see anyone in the hallway. He moved up to the door of the elevator and looked out to each side but then he realized that she was perched above the elevator door on the sign. Before Don could move, Cat woman swung down and kicked his hands to make him lose his weapon. Don dropped the weapon but he was moving toward it before she could get down there. However, she was fast and tried to make it to the weapon before Don did, but he grabbed her leg and made her fall. She tried to kick him in the face with her other heeled boot but Don rolled over and got to his feet.

When Cat woman got to her feet, Don tackled her. He was determined that she would not get away this time. He realized she had claws on her hands all of a sudden and she was about to scratch him. He grabbed her arms and sat down on her. "You're not going anywhere!" he yelled.

"That's just what you think!" she replied.

Don suddenly heard something that sounded like a blade coming out of a sheath and it was behind him. He got up and jerked her up by her arms and then threw her to the floor on her stomach and sat down on her again. He could see the blade that had come out on the side of her boot. Then he heard Danny yell, "Don!"

"Here!" Don yelled.

Danny and the other officers came around the corner to where Don was. "Get over here and help me!" Don said.

Danny got over there and he could see the blade on her boot. He relieved her of her boots and then helped Don to get cuffs on here. "That is one tough woman," Don said as they finally had her under control.

Danny walked up to her. "You tell us where Mac Taylor is!" he demanded.

"Never!" Cat woman replied.

"You'll change your mind."

They told her rights to her and got her into a police car and on the way to the precinct while the ME was taking care of the body of Robert Parson. Danny hated it because they had not been able to get there in time. She had murdered him in cold blood and she could not deny it because they had seen her do it.

Don got the woman into an interrogation room at the precinct after they got her out of that Catwoman outfit. Now, she was just Jeanette Winters. Danny came down there with his files. He did not have a file on Robert Parson yet but he would have it soon after Sid had time to do the autopsy. "What are we going to do?" Don asked. "That woman is not willing to tell anything."

"We have to figure something out," Danny said. "There must be some way to get to her. I have Adam searching everything he can find about her. Hopefully there's something that we don't know about that will help us get to her."

They went into the interrogation room where Jeanette was sitting at the table, chained to the chair. She stared at them with contempt. Danny sat down at the table and looked at her. "Why do you hate us so much?" he asked. "We work all the time to put these criminals that you hate in prison."

"Only for a short time and then they're out there to commit more crimes," Jeanette said.

"We do our best. Why would you want to hurt Detective Taylor? He works around the clock to get these people off the streets."

"He hit me."

"You were trying to kill him. He had no choice."

"He's a man like anyone else."

"You're wrong about that," Don said. "Mac Taylor is one of the most sensitive people you could meet. He may seem tough on the outside but he's a big softy on the inside. Everybody knows it."

"So what? I still don't have to tell you where he is."

"What about Alex Barnes? Did you kill him?" Danny asked.

Jeanette just stared at them. "He's at the same place Detective Taylor is, isn't he?" Don asked. "You would kill a cop just to keep us from getting Barnes out of there?"

"I would!" Jeanette declared. "You can't 'make' me tell you. Take me back to my cell."

Danny leaned on the table. "You know what…when you get into prison, you're going to find out that there are women who are just as mean and abusive as men. What are you going to do then? You're going away for a very long time, and if you don't tell us where Detective Taylor is, it's going to be a lot longer."

"They'll be thanking me for killing those men."

Don and Danny looked at each other and laughed. "That's funny," Don said.

"Sure is," Danny agreed. "There's no love in prison…except maybe the kind you don't want."

Don frowned. "Tell us where Mac is," he said.

"No," Jeanette said flatly.

"Well, I have to go and see what else I can find about this stubborn woman," Danny said and got up. "You deal with her."

Danny left the room and Don was still sitting there. "You could make things a lot easier on yourself by telling us where he is," he said.

"You can't keep me in here forever," Jeanette replied.

"On the contrary, I can keep you in here for a very long time."

"Well, if you like my company that much, go ahead."

"I don't like your company. You're the kind that are the worst…thinking that you're doing society some favor by going around killing people. You're nothing but a cold-blooded murderer, and worse, a cannibal."

"It's quite tasty."

"Please, spare me." Don shook his head. "How does a person get to this point that you're at?"

"Well, I guess I realized there is nothing for me in this world. I lost everything and I just decided to take some things from some others."

"What did you lose?"

"You wouldn't understand if I told you."

"There must be some reason you started all this. Why don't you tell me from the beginning? How did you get that landlord to let you move in with him? How long has he been dead?"

"Are you kidding? All I had to do was make him think that some beautiful young blond found him attractive. He was head over heels. It was easy, and then I just killed him and took over the apartment. He didn't like my cats."

"I'm sure he didn't," Don said. "How long had he been dead?"

"About a month."

"And who were those other people you had in there?"

"Low lifes."

"Tell me who?"

"How do you expect me to remember them all?"

"Oh, I'm sure you remember every one of them. You may pretend that you don't care but you remember every person that you killed."

Jeanette stared at him a moment. "They deserved to die," she said.

"Why? They didn't do anything to you," Don said.

"They shouldn't have been out of prison."

"That's not for you to decide!"

"No one else was doing anything!"

Don stood up. He thought there was no way to get to this woman…

Danny went back up to the lab. "That is one stubborn woman," he said.

"She won't tell you," Lindsay said. "You should have known she wouldn't."

"I just hope Adam can get something that will help us. We have to have something to use against her."

"Like what?"

"Anything. There must be something in her past that is causing her to do all this."

"You're right. Maybe you can use it to manipulate her."

"I hope."


	7. Chapter 7

Adam searched many databases the rest of the night and most of the morning. He finally found some information that he thought might help Danny and the others be able to get to that Cat woman. He printed it all out and then took it to Danny. Danny stared at the papers and read over them. "Wow," he said.

"I guess it tells a little about why she wanted to take vengeance on all those men," Adam said.

"I guess, but it doesn't excuse her. I want you to get me a picture of this girl."

"I'll get on that now."

Danny looked at the papers and shook his head. He had to figure out how to manipulate her with this, although he hated to use something like that against the woman. She had been through quite a lot in her life. He just had to figure out how to use it to get her to tell them where Mac was.

Sheldon came into Danny's office. "You got something?" he asked.

"Yes," Danny replied. "I have a lot of information here and I'm trying to figure out how to use it to get to her and make her tell us where Mac is."

Sheldon sat down. "What's the information?"

Danny gave him the papers. "See for yourself." He folded his arms. "I'm thinking that she most likely did not get Mac any medical care if he was injured and he was because there was some of his blood in the hallway. I'm also thinking that she probably did not leave him in a luxury penthouse suite so he is probably not going to survive if we don't find him."

"I would agree." Sheldon read over the papers. "So, she has a daughter from being raped when she was a teenager."

"Yeah, and it says there that the child was taken from her and they said that it would only remind her of what happened to her but she didn't want to give up the child."

Sheldon looked at Danny. "Maybe if we could find this child and tell her that we could arrange for her to meet her, she might tell us where Mac is," he suggested.

"I was thinking that, but they would never allow us to let her see a child."

Sheldon considered that. "How old would this kid be by now?" he asked.

"She was born in nineteen-ninety-seven so she would be about sixteen now. She would probably have the choice of whether she wants to see her mother or not, whether she's a criminal or not."

"I don't know, but we could try."

Danny leaned on his elbow. "Am I going to have to go and see the commissioner?" he asked.

"Let's see what we can do first. We'll get Adam to see if he can get medical records. We have to do what we can to find Mac."

"Right. Someone's life is at stake here, and not only Mac's, but if Alex Barnes is still alive, his life too."

Danny went to the computer lab and got Adam busy on that information. He paced back and forth in his office as he thought of the situation. Lindsay came in while he was pacing. "Did you figure out anything?" she asked.

"I hope so," Danny said. "I'm trying to be patient and wait until it's definite but it's hard not to just go down there and tell her about it. I want to find Mac."

Lindsay understood how he felt. She found it hard to just stay in the lab with all this going on but she had to think of her baby. She could not go out and chase criminals and all that right now. That was why she did most of the analyzing in the lab at the time. She just hoped that they would be in time to save Mac.

Mac woke up and realized that it was daylight outside. There was light streaming in through a white stained glass window. He did not feel very good, and he thought he felt worse now than he did the last time he woke up. He looked at Alex Barnes who was just sitting there in the chair. "I don't think she's here anymore," Alex said. "I haven't heard anything since last night."

"Why would she just put us in here and leave?" Mac wondered.

"Maybe they captured her."

Mac knew that was a possibility, but if they did, she might not tell where they were and they would have to die slowly in this room. He was not sure he could even sit up right now. His head felt terrible and he thought it was because of that injury. He was pretty sure that bullet was still in there, and lead was not a good thing for a person to have in their body. He knew what could happen if that bullet was not removed soon and he thought he was already starting to feel some of the affects. He knew he had fever and his joints ached. "I don't know how we can get out of here," he said.

"So instead of being filleted, we get to starve to death," Barnes said. "I don't know which is better."

Mac looked at him. "You sure are a pessimist. Why don't you try to get out of that tape?"

"I have tried. It's impossible."

"Stop thinking it's impossible and start trying harder!"

Barnes stared at Mac. He realized that was a command. He started trying to work on the tape again. The more he struggled with it, the tighter it seemed to get. He finally managed to get his hands loose enough to get them around together in front of him. He got hold of the duct tape and tried to tear it. He finally got a small tear in it and then he started pulling with his arms trying to tear it further. "I think I'm getting somewhere," he said.

"Keep trying," Mac replied. He knew that even if Alex got loose, he would not be able to get him loose, and he did not know how he would be able to get out of that room either. He figured it was locked up tight.

Barnes worked on that tape for two hours. He got it torn further up but it was still stuck. He was tired and had to rest a moment. He looked at Mac. "How long would it take us to starve to death?" he asked.

"I don't know," Mac said. He looked at the ceiling. "I think I would die before you because of this lead bullet in my leg."

"You mean…No, I don't want you to die and leave me here alone."

"Don't panic, just work on that tape. Maybe we can figure out how to get out of here if you can get loose."

Adam had found out more information on the child that Jeanette Winters had when she was young. They found that the girl lived there in New York. "I wish Jo was around," Danny said.

"Yeah, she could go and visit this girl and see if she wants to see her real mother," Adam replied.

"Somebody has to try. It may be the only way we can find Mac."

"How do you know that will even make her want to tell you where Mac is?"

"It's all we've got right now. Don has been talking to her all this time and she hasn't budged."

"Why would she want to do all this? Why kidnap Mac?"

"I don't know but I just hope we can find him before it's too late."

Don was talking to Jeanette Winters when Danny came in. He sat down at the table. "You had a rough time when you were a teen," Danny said.

Jeanette looked at him. "What do you know about it?" she asked.

"Is that why you have been taking revenge on all these men?"

"They're criminals."

"What about Detective Taylor? He hasn't done anything like this. He's one of the good guys. Why don't you want to tell us where he is?"

Jeanette folded her arms. "He would just want to put me in prison," she said.

"Oh, don't worry. You're going to prison with or without him." Danny leaned on the table. "What happened to you was terrible but you don't have to take it out on Detective Taylor. Tell us where he is and maybe we can fix it so you can see your daughter."

Jeanette looked surprised by that statement. "How do you know about her?" she asked.

"We do a lot of research when we get on a case. You didn't want to give her up did you?"

"I'm not talking to you about that."

"Why?"

"Because it's none of your business and if you think this is going to make me tell you where he is, you are mistaken!"

Danny could see his idea was wrong. He leaned back in the chair. "Tell us where he is!" he demanded.

Jeanette folded her arms. Don slapped the table which made a loud sound in that room. "Hey!" he said. "This is not a joke! Tell us where he is!"

"I won't!" she said. "And you can't make me!"

Don looked at Danny. They knew they could not make her tell them. Danny sighed. "Well, you're torturing someone who would have helped you," he said. "Just tell us where he is."

"Never."

Danny got up and paced back and forth. He had thought that thing about her daughter would have worked but he was wrong. "Do you want your daughter to see you for the first time behind bars?" he asked. "We could let you see her somewhere besides in prison."

"I don't care," Jeanette said. "She doesn't know me."

"Someday she is going to start wondering and she'll find you. You want her to see you the first time in jail?"

Jeanette just looked up at the ceiling. Danny glared at her and then got up. "Fine," he said. "We'll find him ourselves."

Danny went back up to the lab. He had to figure out how to find Mac. He knew that woman was not going to tell them where Mac was. "I assume your idea didn't work," Sheldon said.

"No, it didn't," Danny replied. "She won't tell us anything."

"It was a shot."

"A very long one. She would just sit in there and let Mac and that other guy starve to death and not think anything about it."

"I think you're right. She wants them to die and she doesn't care whether she sees it or not. She'll know they're dead."

"That is cold blooded."

"Yeah, just about as cold blooded as you can get."

Mac was just barely awake when he heard Alex say, "I did it! I did it!"

Alex jerked the tape off his shoulders and jumped up out of the chair. "Hey! Detective! I got loose!" He looked at Mac and realized he was not responding. He ran over to the cot and shook Mac who grimaced at that. "I got out of the tape!"

Mac opened his eyes slightly and looked at him. He realized that he had gotten out of the tape. "Great, now you have to figure out how to get out of this room," he said. "Get the chair and break that window."

Alex went over to the chair. "How do I get it loose?" he asked. "It's cuffed to the wall."

"Jerk it until you break the rung in the chair."

Alex thought he should have thought of that himself. "Right," he said. He picked up the chair and jerked it, but he had to jerk it several times before the rung finally broke. He fell backward and then got up. "I got it," he said. He went over to the cot again and frowned as he looked at Mac. "How do I get you out of here?"

Mac looked at him. "You have to get out and go get help," he said. "You can leave me here."

"No! I don't want to leave you here. They won't believe me!"

"Yes they will. Go to the twelfth precinct and ask for Don Flack. He knows."

Alex stared at Mac a moment. "Are you sure?"

"Yes. There's no way you can get these cuffs loose. Just go and get help."

Alex picked up the chair and broke out the window and then he went back over to Mac. "Is there anything you want me to do for you before I go?" he asked.

"Water," Mac said. "If you can get me some water."

"Right. I'll see if I can find some."

Alex climbed out the window and found that he was in another hallway instead of outside. He did not know if it was day or night outside but he supposed that did not matter. He ran down that hallway and then went to the right. The first room he came to was full of cats. He went on down to the next and found what looked like a surgical table. He swallowed hard as he realized this was probably where he would have been. They knew now that the woman was not coming back. Mac had thought she must have been captured. Alex went on to the next room and found a bed and some other stuff, including a case of bottled water. He grabbed a bottle and then searched through all the drawers in that dresser and found some keys. He thought maybe they would be to the room and the cuffs. He ran back down the other hall and got to the door of the room Mac was in. He tried the keys and finally found the one that opened that door. He ran into the room.

"Detective Taylor, I got the keys," Alex said.

Mac looked at him a little astonished. He had really thought the guy would run and just leave him there and maybe make a phone call. "Great," he said.

Alex felt of Mac's forehead. "You have fever," he said.

Mac nodded. "It's the gunshot wound."

"I'll get you out of here."

"Are you sure you're a criminal?"

"I made a stupid mistake."

"I'm going to look into that when I get back to my lab."

Alex tried the keys until he found one that would open the cuffs. "Come on," he said and helped Mac to sit up.

"Wait," Mac said as he sat up. "I don't know if I can walk."

"I'll help you."

Mac felt like he was floating around as he stood up and he felt like his legs would not hold him up. Alex was determined that he would get Mac out of there too. He struggled to get Mac down that hallway, but Mac fell halfway. "I don't think I can make it," Mac said.

"Yes you can!" Alex replied. "Come on!"

Mac wondered if he was wanting to save his life or if he was just nervous about trying to get help after leaving him here. He struggled back to his feet. "Where is the bathroom?" he asked.

"I don't know, but we will find it."

They soon found a bathroom and Mac went in. Alex waited in the hall. He wondered what kind of place they were in. Mac came out and Alex went in next. Mac sat there wondering the same thing…where were they? How far were they from any help? He was sure he could not walk for miles to get help. Alex came out of the bathroom and got him up again. "Don't give up on me," Alex said.

"I'm not," Mac replied.

They got down that hall and finally found the door that went outside. Alex opened the door and it was dark outside. Mac almost collapsed again. He had been hoping it would be day but it was dark. "Hey, come on," Alex said. "Maybe we can find a phone somewhere around here."

They got outside and Mac could see that they were not inside the city but he could also see the "glow" of the city and he knew they had to be right outside it. As they walked, Mac could feel something warm running down his leg. He knew that wound was bleeding again and his head knew it too. He felt lightheaded and did not know how much further he could go. He looked at Alex. "Why didn't she shoot you?" he asked. "She usually shot her victims in the back of the knee."

"I don't know," Alex said. "I surrendered when she came in but I thought I would be able to escape."

Mac felt like he was hearing that in a drum or something. They followed the gravel road that went up to the building they had been in and it finally led them to a paved road that looked like it probably went down to some water source. "Which way?" Alex asked out of breath. He was finding that Mac got heavier as they went.

Mac looked both ways down the road. "Left," he said. He was feeling more tired as the minutes passed but he was trying to keep going. "I think I am losing blood again."

"Should we stop and look at the wound?"

"If I sit down, I don't know if I can get back up."

"What should we do?"

"Find a place to leave me and go and get help back here."

"I don't want to leave you. They won't believe me."

"They will. I told you, and when you get them back here, they will believe you."

"Come on, we have to keep moving."

Mac tried not to stumble but his leg seemed to get stiffer all the time and weaker. Not only that but his injury in his shoulder was still hurting and his shoulder felt stiff too. He had to admire Alex's stamina and his determination, but he knew he was not just trying to save him…he was afraid they would not believe him. Mac wondered what would happen if he went to them and they did not believe him…would he just go on living and forget about him? Or would he try to save him? Mac could not be sure that Alex would try to help him if they rejected him. After all, he was less than honest…or he had been before.

They went a little further and then Mac fell. Alex was too tired to keep him from hitting the ground and mac landed right on his sore knee. He groaned loudly as he hit the pavement of the road. "I'm sorry," Alex said. "Are you alright?"

Mac could not talk at the moment. He stared up at the sky as he heard some thunder. "Oh, no," he whispered.

Alex looked up at the sky. "Rain?"

"That's all we need. You should have left me and went to get help."

"How was I supposed to know it would rain?"

Mac closed his eyes. "Never mind that," he said. "Let's get up from here."

Alex got Mac up and they headed on down the road but they had only gone a few feet when the rain started falling. "Well, I guess my fever will go down," Mac remarked.

"If that's supposed to be funny, it's not," Alex said.

Mac felt like he would pass out on his feet. "Oh I don't know. We might as well laugh. How could things get worse?"

"I guess I could have been a shish kebab by now."

"Oh yeah, I guess it 'could' be worse."

Alex looked at Mac as he realized he was laboring in his breathing. He thought he must be just trying to carry on a conversation to stay alert. "You know what I'm going to do when we get out of here?" he asked.

"What?" Mac asked.

"I'm gonna get myself a big milkshake and drink it and then I'm going to get me a job in a bakery so I can eat all kinds of bread."

Mac scowled at that. "Why?"

"Because I love bread and I haven't had any in a long time."

Mac shook his head. "Well, I guess that's a pretty good goal," he said. "I'll help you if you promise to stay out of trouble."

Alex looked at Mac. "You would do that?"

"I'll help anybody who sincerely wants to make their life better."

Alex thought about that as they trudged on down the road in the pouring rain. He thought there probably would not be anyone along here because of the rain. He was starting to get cold. The rain was very cold because of the time of the year it was. But suddenly, they saw some car lights coming around a curve. Mac's hopes rose as they saw the car come around and it was a patrol car.

The officer turned on his blue lights when he saw Mac and Alex. "Hey, I guess we're going to get out of here after all," Mac said.

Alex tried to hold Mac up as he almost collapsed. "Hey!" he yelled. "Help us!"

The officer got out of the car and approached them with caution. "What's going on here?" he asked.

"This is Detective Taylor!" Alex said.

The officer was shocked. He got over to Mac and then he called in the situation. "Let's get him in the car out of this rain," he said.

Alex and the officer got Mac up and got him over to the car and put him in the back seat. "Get in, and I'll take you to the hospital," the officer said.

"I need to talk to Don Flack," Alex replied.

"Don't worry. He will hear about this real fast."

"Okay."

Alex got into the car, unable to keep from remembering the last time he was in a police car. He swallowed hard but he looked at Mac who was asleep now. He had never met a detective quite like him. He seemed to be serious when he said he would help him to get a job and change his life.

Don Flack came from the elevator at the lab in almost a run. "Danny!" he exclaimed.

Danny came from his office, hearing the urgency in Don's voice. "What's going on?" he asked.

"They found Mac! And Alex Barnes is alive!"

Danny stopped a moment. "Are you serious?" he asked.

"Yes! Mac's at the emergency room! Alex Barnes is on his way here! He says Mac told him to ask for me."

Danny could not believe what he was hearing. "Well, let's get down there," he said finally.

They got in the elevator and went back downstairs. Danny was the only one still there at the time. He had sent everyone else home to get some rest. They had been working so long, they were starting to see double. When they stepped out of the elevator downstairs, Alex Barnes was being brought in the door. Don went over to him and the officer. "I want to talk to this man," Don said. He took Barnes and headed for an interrogation room.

Alex Barnes sat down at the table. "I'm not under arrest, am I?" he asked.

"No," Don replied. "I want you to tell us what happened."

"I'm cold. I'm soaking wet."

"Just tell us what happened."

"Okay, but it's not a short story."

"Where were you being held?"

"I'm not sure. It was a big building but it was out in the middle of those woods out there. I guess it was abandoned."

"Where?"

"I don't know. I would have to go back and show you. I'm sure Detective Taylor knows."

"How did you escape?"

"I was taped to a chair and I finally managed to tear the tape and I kept working until I got the tape off me and then I broke the window out and got out to find a key and I found the keys to the room and the key to the handcuffs too. I got Detective Taylor loose and we got out and when we got down there on the road, the officer found us. We didn't know what happened to the cat woman. She didn't come back."

"We captured her, and now I have some really good news to tell her."

Don looked at Danny with one of his sarcastic grins. "I can't wait to tell her," he said.

"Hey, I get to do that," Danny replied.

"Hold it, I heard the news first."

"Yeah, but I was the one conducting the investigation."

"At least let me watch."

"For sure."

Christine was going down the hallway of the hospital at almost a run. She finally found the ER room that Mac was in. There were nurses and doctors around him but they let her go into the room. She was surprised that Mac was soaking wet but she knew it had been pouring down rain. She stroked his hair and forehead and she could feel that he had fever. She kissed his forehead. "I love you," she said.

Mac opened his eyes slightly. "I love you too," he whispered.

Christine almost gasped. "How do you feel?"

"Terrible."

"You'll be fine and I'll nurse you back to health."

"I know."

Christine watched as he fell asleep again. "You have to leave now," one of the nurses said.

"Okay," Christine said. She kissed Mac again and then left the room. She leaned on the wall and sighed with relief. She was just glad that he had woke up and talked to her. It gave her some hope.

When Danny got to the hospital, Christine was sitting in the waiting room. "How is he?" he asked.

"He's going to be okay," Christine said. "He talked to me."

"Good. We just found him by chance. Can you believe an ex-con helped him?"

"Mac has a good influence on everyone."

Danny sighed as he sat down. "I think I have to go home and rest now," he said. "I'm so tired."

"You go," Christine said. "I'll take care of him."

"I know, but we will be in touch."

"Good night."

"Night. Call if you need us."

"Okay."

Danny left the hospital. He was glad this situation was over. He hoped maybe he could sleep the rest of the night…

The next day, Mac was awake, and he learned that Jo would be okay too although she had had a severe concussion. She had finally woke up that morning and did not remember much of what happened, but the doctor had told them that she would regain her memories later on, but that she was making good progress. The bullet had been removed from Mac's leg and Danny and the others matched it to the bullets that the cat woman had used to kill her other victims. She would not be getting out of prison for a long time. They had finally found the building that she had been holding Mac and Alex in. They also found that Mac and Alex had not been the first who had been held there. They found evidence of at least six different people who had been held there. Danny thought the woman must have mutilated her victims there. He was sitting at his desk just about sick over this whole thing. He would be glad when the last word was said about this and he could do something else…


	8. Chapter 8

**Okay, by popular demand, I decided to write another chapter. Hope you all like it and hope you will be looking for the next story I am writing which will be another Halloween story. :) Thanks for reading...miss37**

When Mac got out of the hospital, he was on crutches of course, but he was determined that he would go to that prison to see the Cat woman…Jeanette Winters. He wanted to confront that woman himself. "Are you sure you want to do that?" Christine asked.

"Yes, I'm sure," Mac replied. "I won't give her the satisfaction of thinking that she killed me. She didn't even believe Don and Danny when they told her that we escaped but she will believe me."

"You better be careful."

"I will. Don't worry, and I'm sure Don and Danny will be going with me."

Christine drove Mac to the precinct since he could not drive with his right knee all messed up like it was. "I'll see you tonight," Mac said.

"Okay," Christine replied and kissed him.

Mac got out of the truck and went on inside. Don was at his desk as usual and he could not believe it when Mac walked in. "What are you doing here?" Don asked.

"I want to go down there and see Jeanette Winters," Mac said.

"What for?"

"I want to see the look on her face when she sees me."

Don shook his head. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure."

"Alright, I'll take you, but you know Danny would like to see this too."

"I know. Why don't you call him and tell him to come with us?"

Don got his phone and called Danny. It was not long until Danny was down there and they got in Don's car and headed for the prison where Cat woman was being held. "I guess she's going to be surprised," Danny said.

"I don't know," Mac replied. "I think deep down she knows that we didn't die in that place."

They arrived at the prison and went through security and then they went down to the room where they were going to see Jeanette Winters. Mac sat down at the table. He was glad his knee would get well quicker than the other time he was shot. He would not have to come back from the dead like he did the last time. That had been the reason that it took so long for him to recover…he had been so close to death that his body almost shut down completely. However, this time, he had just lost some blood and had gotten a little lead into his body but he was recovering quickly. He still had some pain in that knee of course and his shoulder was still sore from being clawed by that woman.

Soon, Jeanette was brought into the room. She stopped suddenly when she saw who was in there and almost gasped. She stared at Mac. The guard brought her on in there and cuffed her to the chair. She stared at Mac. "Are you surprised to see me?" Mac asked.

Jeanette glared at him. "I suppose you just came here to rub this in my face?" she asked.

Mac smiled sarcastically. "Yeah," he said. "I guess that's what I came for." He leaned on the table. "And one other thing…Alex Barnes is not dead either. He even helped me escape from that room…and you know what, I'm going to help him change his life. In a way, I guess you helped him by bringing us together because now, he's going to have a better life and you…well, you're going to spend the rest of your life in prison."

Don had to force himself not to laugh and Danny barely concealed his smile. They knew Mac was just gloating about the whole thing. Mac stood up. "By the way…how's the food?" he asked.

Danny could not hold his laugh anymore with that remark, and Don's smile was shining then. They followed Mac out of the room and headed back for Don's car. When they were in the car, Don and Danny were both laughing. "I didn't know you had it in you, Mac," Don said. "That was hilarious!"

"She deserved every bit of it," Danny said. "Did you see the look on her face when she saw him sitting at that table?"

"I wish I had had a camera. That was definitely a Kodak moment."

"It should have been framed and hung in the lab."

Mac cleared his throat. "Are you two done?" he asked.

"No," Don answered. "We'll be talking about this for a long time. No one would think that Mac Taylor could be vindictive like that."

"Why not?"

"I don't know. You're so serious."

Danny laughed. "I think she could have melted steal with that look she gave him when he asked her how the food was," he said.

Don laughed about that. "You can say that again."

Mac looked out the window and smiled to himself. He had to admit it was funny. That was one time that he had enjoyed gloating. He would help Alex Barnes to get a job. He knew all kinds of people and he knew a few bakers too. He was sure he could get one of them to give Alex a job.

It took Mac all of four weeks to be where he did not have to walk on crutches anymore. His knee was sore but it was well enough that he could hobble on it. It would be at least two more weeks before he could get the brace off it. The tendons had been affected in his knee from that bullet.

It was a cold November morning and he was about to go to his favorite bakery to pick up some croissants. He loved croissants and this bakery had the best ones that he had ever eaten in New York, especially since they had hired a new baker. He seemed to have a real knack for baking bread and making it taste good. The manager was very pleased with his new hand and had made sure to give him a raise already.

Mac walked into the warm bakery and was bombarded by the smells of all the bread cooking. He loved the smell of baking bread…not to mention that they had donuts and other delicacies. He went over to the counter and rang the bell. Alex Barnes soon came from the back. He smiled when he saw Mac. "Morning, Detective," he said.

"Morning," Mac replied. "How are you this morning?"

"I'm doing great. What'll you have?"

"I want a dozen croissants. I promised my team I was going to bring them some, and of course, I want some for myself."

"You got it. I'll give you some that just came out of the oven."

Mac waited while Alex went to the back and he soon came out with a box of croissants. "There you go, Detective," he said.

"How much do I owe you?" Mac asked.

"Nothing. You're the one who made all this possible. They're on me."

Mac looked at him. "Thanks but…"

"This is not a gift to you as a cop…it's a gift to a friend."

Mac nodded. "You just keep on going and you'll do good."

Alex offered his hand and Mac shook it. "Thanks for your help, Detective Taylor. I won't ever forget it. I even told my mom and she's ecstatic. She wanted to come down here and give you a hug but she doesn't really like coming to the city. It's big and noisy and she doesn't know how to get around in it."

"Well, make her proud."

"I will, and I will make you proud too."

Mac nodded and went on out the door. He smiled as he thought of how much Alex's life had changed. He was glad he had at least gotten to help him. He supposed all that trouble he went through was worth it to change someone's life like that.

Mac went on to the lab and when he walked in, Jo smelled those croissants. She came down to his office. "What have you brought in here?" she asked.

"Croissants," Mac said. "The best you can get."

Jo inhaled the fragrance as Mac opened the box. "You are trying to make me fat," she said.

Mac smiled. "One croissant is not going to make you fat," he said.

"Who said I was only going to eat one?"

Mac looked at her. "How is your head?" he asked.

"I don't have the headaches as much anymore," Jo said. "The doctor said I should stop having those soon."

"I hope."

"Me too." Jo got two of the croissants and headed out of the office. She looked back at Mac with a smile.

Mac was glad she was okay. He had not known whether she was okay or not for a while. He went into the lab. "Anyone want a croissant?" he asked.

Lindsay's mouth dropped open. "A croissant?" she asked. "Are you kidding?"

"Come to the lounge."

Lindsay started taking off her lab coat. "Hey, don't eat them all," Danny said. "I want one too."

Mac went into the lounge and Lindsay was soon there. Mac realized that Alex had given him more than a dozen, but that was okay. Everyone was going to enjoy them. He took one out and took a bite. It was definitely the best he had ever tasted. He had always loved croissants and if they were good, they were…but if they were bad, they were terrible. These were good and hot. He supposed a lot of good had come out of that situation he was in although that woman had intended to kill them…evil did not always win.


End file.
